rHE  STORY  OF  VITEAU 


BOOKS  BY  FRANK  R.  STOCKTON 

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THE 


STORY  OF  VITEAU 


BY 

FRANK  R.  STOCKTON 

AUTHOR  Or  "  A  JOLLY  FELLOWSHIP,"  "  THE  FLOATING  PBINCE,"  ETC. 


ILLUSTRATED 


New  York 
CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS 


Copyright,  1884,  by 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


Copyright,  1912,  by 
WILLIAM  S.  STOCKTON 


Sno//so    /I  /« 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Raymond,  Louis  and  the  Page  return  to  Viteau,  .  Frontispiece. 

Page 
Bernard,  Raymond  and  Louis  meet  the  Monk, 9 

Louis  and  Bernard  on  their  way  to  DeBarran's  Castle,  .    20 

Louis,  Agnes,  and  the  Falcon,    , 29 

Louis  finds  one  of  the  Highwaymen  a  good-natured  fellow  41 

Bernard  teaching   Raymond  the  use  of  the  long  sword,    50 

Brother  Anselmo  threatens  Bernard  and  Raymond,   ...    60 

The  Countess  sent  for  Jasto  and  thanked  him  warmly,  .    93 

A  small  window  was  opened, 97 

Agnes  tells  Raymond  and  Louis  of  her  plan, 109 

Sir  Hugo  and  Sir  Charles  charge  the  Robbers, 120 

The  flight  of  the  Countess, 132 

mlchol  welcomes  the  countess, 136 

Agnes    makes    a    plea    for    the   mother   of   Raymond   and 

Louis, 141 

The  Robbers  in  the  Old  Woman's  Cottage, 160 

The    Robbers    in    the    hallway    were    forced    into    the 

Courtyard, 178 


The  Story  of  Viteau. 


CHAPTER   I. 


BY  the  side  of  a  small  stream,  which  ran  through  one 
of  the  most  picturesque  portions  of  the  province 
of  Burgundy,  in  France,  there  sat,  on  a  beautiful  day 
in  early  summer,  two  boys,  who  were  brothers. 

They  had  been  bathing  in  the  stream,  and  now, 
having  dressed,  they  were  talking  together  on  the 
bank. 

Raymond,  the  elder,  was  about  fourteen  years  old, 
and  his  brother  Louis  was  some  eighteen  months 
younger.  In  form  and  feature,  and  in  general  dispo- 
sition and  character,  they  were  not  unlike  many  of  the 
boys  of  our  day,  and  yet  these  two  young  fellows  lived 
more  than  six  hundred  years  ago.  They  were  dressed 
in  simple  tunics,  one  green,  one  brown,  and  wore  short 
breeches,  dark-colored  stockings,  and  rather  clumsy 
shoes. 


2  THE  STORY  OF  VITEAU. 

The  two  brothers  were  very  busily  engaged  in  con- 
versation, for  they  had  a  great  deal  to  say  to  each 
other,  and  not  much  time  to  say  it  in.  On  the  next 
day  Louis  was  going  away  from  home,  to  be  gone  a 
long,  long  time. 

Raymond  and  Louis  were  the  sons  of  the  Countess 
of  Viteau,  whose  chateau  stood  on  a  little  eminence 
about  half  a  mile  away.  Their  father,  the  Count  of 
Viteau,  had  been  one  of  the  most  steadfast  adherents 
and  supporters  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  in  his  en- 
deavors to  maintain  the  independence  of  his  dukedom 
against  the  claims  of  the  French  crown,  and  had  fallen 
in  one  of  the  battles  between  the  Duke's  followers  and 
the  army  of  the  Regent,  Queen  Blanche,  who,  in  those 
days,  ruled  France  in  the  name  of  her  son,  the  young 
King,  Louis  IX.,  afterward  known  as  Louis  the  Just, 
or  St.  Louis. 

The  Duke's  forces  had  been  defeated,  Burgundy  had 
been  compelled  to  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  the 
French  crown,  and  peace  reigned  in  the  kingdom. 

The  widowed  Countess  of  Viteau  now  found  herself 
the  sole  protector  and  guardian  of  her  two  boys.  For- 
tunately, she  had  a  large  estate,  but  even  this  added  to 
her  cares  and  responsibilities,  and  rendered  her  less  able 
to  attend  to  what  she  had  intended  should  be  the  aim 
and  business  of  her  life — the  education  of  her  sons. 

Education,  in  those  days,  did  not  mean  what  it  does 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  3 

now.  The  majority  of  the  people,  even  of  the  upper 
classes,  were  not  educated  at  all,  some  of  the  lords 
and  barons  being  unable  to  write  their  names.  Printing 
had  not  been  invented ;  all  books  were  in  manuscript, 
and  were  scarce  and  valuable.  Most  of  the  learning, 
such  as  it  was,  had  been,  for  a  long  time,  confined  to 
the  monks  and  priests ;  but,  in  the  era  in  which  our 
two  boys  lived,  people  had  begun  to  give  more  at- 
tention to  general  education,  and  there  were  schools 
in  some  of  the  large  cities  which  were  well  attended, 
and  where  the  students  of  that  day  were  taught  gram- 
mar, logic,  rhetoric,  music,  arithmetic,  geometry,  and 
astronomy,  although  their  studies  in  most  of  these 
branches  were  not  carried  very  far.  The  school  of 
Paris  was  one  of  the  most  celebrated  of  these  in- 
stitutions. 

The  Countess  of  Viteau  was  among  the  few  ladies 
of  the  time  who  really  cared  for  an  education  beyond 
that  which  included  the  small  number  of  accom- 
plishments then  considered  necessary  to  persons  of 
high  position.  When  quite  a  young  woman,  she  had 
learned  all  that  the  priests,  one  or  more  of  whom 
generally  lived  in  her  father's  house,  could  teach  her, 
and  afterward,  when  her  sons  were  old  enough,  she 
made  it  her  personal  business  to  attend  to  their 
studies.  Some  things  she  taught  them  herself,  and, 
for  other  branches,  she  employed  such  men  of  know- 


4  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

ledge — almost  always  members  of  some  order  of  the 
clergy — as   could   be   obtained. 

But  now  the  time  had  arrived  when  the  customs 
of  the  day  demanded  that  one  of  her  sons,  at  least, 
should  leave  her  to  receive  an  education  of  another 
sort,  and  her  younger  boy  was  to  be  sent  away  to  the 
castle  of  the  Count  de  Barran,  an  old  friend  and 
fellow-soldier  of  her  husband,  to  be  taught,  as  most 
of  the  boys  of  his  station  were  taught,  the  arts  and 
usages  of  knighthood  and  chivalry.  Raymond  would 
also  be  a  knight,  but  his  mother  wished  him  to  be 
more  than  that.  He  would  succeed  to  the  rank  and 
estate  of  his  father,  and  she  hoped  that  he  would 
not  only  be  a  nobleman  and  a  soldier,  but  a  scholar. 
When  he  should  leave  her  to  go  to  the  school  at 
Paris, — and  it  was  for  this  school  that  she  was  now 
endeavoring  to  prepare  him, — he  would  live  with  one 
of  his  relatives,  by  whom  he  would  be  instructed  in 
the  noble  duties  of  chivalry.  His  mother  felt  sure 
that  his  studies  at  the  school  and  his  knightly  ex- 
ercises  would   not   interfere   with    each   other. 

"  Only  one  more  day,"  said  Raymond,  "  and  then 
it   will   seem   so   strange   here  without  you,  Louis." 

"  But  it  will  be  ever  so  much  stranger  for  me," 
said  Louis,  "  for  I  shall  be  without  everybody.  I 
have  never  seen  a  single  soul  of  the  castle  people, 
excepting    the    Count    de   Barran,  and   it    is   so    long 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  5 

since  he  was  here  that  I  have  almost  forgotten  him.  He 
was  a  big,  stout  man,  and  that's  all  I  know  about  him." 

"  You  might  as  well  have  never  seen  him/'  said 
Raymond,  "  for  he  is  not  stout,  and  he  is  not  big. 
He's  a  tall,  thin  man,  and,  I  think,  a  kind  one.  But 
I   expect  you    soon   will   know   everybody." 

"  Or  they  will  know  me,"  said  Louis,  "  which  will 
be  the  same  thing.  I  know  I  shall  have  lively 
times.  Let  me  see  :  For  a  year  and  a  half  I  shall 
be  a  page.  There  must  be  ever  so  many  ways  for 
the  pages,  especially  if  there  are  a  good  many  of 
us,  to  have  royal  fun.  And  then,  when  I  am  four- 
teen, I  shall  be  a  squire.  I  think  I  shall  not  like 
that   so   much,  excepting   for   the   fighting  part." 

"  Fighting  !  "  exclaimed  his  brother.  "  You'll  have 
none   of  that." 

"  Oh  yes,  but  I  shall  have,"  returned  Louis.  "  Bar- 
ran  has  always  been  fighting,  ever  since  I  heard  of 
him ;  and  if  he  does  his  duty  by  me,  he  is  bound 
to   take   me   with   him   to   the   wars." 

"But  the  wars  are  all  over,"  said  Raymond.  "You 
know   that   as  well   as   I    do." 

"  Oh,  there'll  be  more,"  said  Louis,  laughing. 
"  There  is  sure  to  be  trouble  of  some  kind  before 
I  'm  fourteen.  And,  if  there  are  any  wars,  you  must 
come  to  them.  It  wont  do  to  be  spending  all  your 
time   here,  with   priests   and  books." 


6  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

"  Priests  and  books  ! "  exclaimed  Raymond.  "  I 
don't  expect  to  spend  half  my  time  with  them.  I 
shall  ride  and  fence,  and  tilt  and  hunt  quite  as  much 
as  you  will,  or  even  more,  I  doubt  not.  But  I  can 
do   all   that,  and   be   a   scholar  too." 

"  I  'd  like  well  enough  to  be  a  scholar,"  said 
Louis,  "  if  it  were  not  so  much  trouble.  Just  to 
learn  to  write,  like  the  monks  who  make  our  books, 
must  take  years  !  I  tell  you,  Raymond,  it  would  be 
time   wasted   for   me." 

"  No  doubt  of  that,"  said  his  brother,  laughing. 
"  You  would  never  have  the  patience  to  write  out  all 
the  pages  of  a  book,  even  if  you  could  do  it  so 
well  that  people  could  read  it.  If  you  can  do  so 
much  as  write  me  a  letter  from  the  castle,  to  tell 
me  how  you  find  things  there,  and  what  happens 
to  you,  I   shall   be   glad   enough." 

"  I  never  did  write  a  letter,"  said  Louis,  "  but  I 
feel  quite  sure  that  I  could  do  it.  The  trouble 
would   be   for  you    to  read   it." 

"  That 's  true ; "  said  Raymond,  "  but  I  will  do  my 
best  to    read,  if   you   will    do   your  best  to   write." 

"  Did  not  our  mother  tell  you  to  ask  me  this  ? " 
said  Louis,  turning  towards   his   brother  with  a  smile. 

"  She   did,"  answered   Raymond. 

"  I  thought  it  sounded  like  her,"  said  Louis. 
"  She   greatly  wants  me  to   read  and  write ;    and,  for 


THE   STORY   OF    VITEAU.  7 

her  sake,  and  yours,  too,  Raymond,  I  '11  try  a  letter. 
But   is   not   that   Bernard,  over   in   the   field  ? " 

"  Yes,  it  is,"  said  Raymond.  "  He  is  training  a 
young   falcon    for   me." 

"  For  you  ! "  cried  Louis,  jumping  up.  "  I  did  not 
know   that.      Let   us    go    down   to   him." 

"  I  did  not  know  it,  either,"  said  his  brother,  rising, 
"  until  yesterday.  Bernard  is  going  to  teach  me  to 
fly  the   bird   as   soon   as   it   is   trained." 

"  And  I  am  going  away  to-morrow,"  cried  Louis. 
"  It   is   too  bad  !  " 

The  boys  now  ran  down  to  the  field,  where  a  tall, 
broad-shouldered  man,  dressed  in  a  short,  coarse 
jacket  of  brown  cloth,  with  tight  breeches  of  the 
same  stuff,  was  walking  towards  them.  He  bore  on 
his  left  hand  a  large  falcon,  or  goshawk,  a  bird  used 
in   that   day  for   hunting   game   of  various   kinds. 

"Ho,  Bernard!"  cried  Louis,  "how  is  it  I  never 
heard  that  you  were  training  that  bird  ?  I  should  have 
liked  to  watch  you  all  the  time." 

"  That  is  the  reason  you  were  not  told,"  said  Bernard, 
who  had  been  the  squire  of  the  late  Count,  and  was  now 
a  well-trusted  member  of  the  household  of  Viteau. 

"If you  had  known  what  I  was  about,"  he  continued, 
"you  would  have  done  nothing  but  watch  me,  and 
therefore  it  was  that  your  good  mother  told  me  to 
keep    the   matter   from    you.      It    takes  a  long    time 


8  THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

and  a  world  of  trouble  to  train  a  hawk,  especially 
one  that  was  nearly  full-grown  when  caught,  as  this 
one  was.  Those  taken  from  their  nests  are  far 
easier  to   manage." 

"  But  he  is  trained  now,  isn't  he  ? "  said  Louis. 
"  Why  not  try  him  to-day  ?  Just  one  flight,  good 
Bernard,  for,  you  know,  I  shall  be  gone  to-morrow. 
We  can  easily  find  a  heron,  or  a  pheasant,  or  some- 
thing  he   can    go   after." 

"  No,  no,  my  boy,"  said  the  squire ;  "  this  bird  is 
not  yet  ready  to  cast  off  for  a  free  flight.  Why, 
it  was  only  last  week  that  I  ceased  using  the  long 
string  with  which  I  brought  him  back  when  I 
wanted  him  ;  and,  ever  since,  I  have  been  very  care- 
ful to  have  a  lure  which  should  be  so  tempting 
that  he  would  be  certain  to  come  down  to  it,  no 
matter  how  high  he  might  soar.  See,  here  is  the 
one  I  used  to-day.  He  has  eaten  from  it  the  whole 
breast   of  a  pigeon." 

With  this  he  showed  the  boys  his  "  lure,"  which 
was  a  rude  figure  of  a  bird,  the  body  made  of 
cloth,  with  the  head,  talons,  and  wings  of  a  real  bird, 
and  to  which  had  been  attached  a  piece  of  some 
kind  of  meat  of  which  the  falcon  is  fond.  By  being 
thus  accustomed  to  find  something  good  to  tear  and 
eat  when  called  to  his  master,  the  bird  gradually 
learned  to   obey  the   call   whenever   he   heard   it. 


BERNARD,  RAYMOND,  AND  LOUIS  MEET  THE  MONK. 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU  Q 

Raymond  was  quite  willing  to  wait  until  the  hawk 
was  thoroughly  trained,  before  testing  him  in  actual 
sport;  but  Louis,  very  naturally,  made  great  complaint. 
To-day  was  his  last  chance.  Bernard,  however,  was 
firm,  and  so  they  walked  towards  the  chateau,  the 
hooded   bird   still   perched    upon    the    squire's   wrist. 

Just  as  the  three,  now  busily  talking  of  Louis' 
future  life  at  the  castle  of  the  Count  de  Barran, 
were  about  entering  a  little  gate  in  the  lower  part 
of  the  grounds  which  surround  the  house,  there  came 
out  of  the  gate  a  monk  wearing  a  long,  dark,  and 
rather  dirty  gown,  and  walking  with  his  eyes  fixed 
upon  the  ground,  as  if  deeply  engaged  in  thought. 
He  seemed  scarcely  to  perceive  the  boys  or  the 
squire,  as   he  passed   them. 

"  I  shall  be  glad  to  be  free  from  those  long- 
gowned  folk,"  said  Louis,  as  they  entered  the  grounds. 
"  No  more  priests'  lessons  for  me.  I  shall  have 
knights   and   soldiers   for   my  teachers." 

"  All  very  fine,"  said  Bernard,  "  but  you  will  have 
other  things  to  do  besides  learning  how  to  be  a 
knight  and  soldier.  You  will  serve  your  masters 
and  your  mistresses  at  table,  clean  armor,  hold  stir- 
rups, and   do   everything   else  they  ask   of  you." 

"  Oh  yes,"  said  Louis ;  "  but  that  will  be  only  while 
I  am  a  page.  In  a  year  and  a  half  all  that  will 
be  over." 


IO  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

"  A  year  and  a  half  seems  to  me  like  a  long 
time,"  said  Raymond ;  "  but  time  always  passes 
quickly  with    Louis." 

This  remark  was  made  to  Bernard,  but  the  squire 
did  not  appear  to  hear  it.  He  was  looking  back 
through   the   gate   at  the   departing   monk. 

"  If  I  only  knew  that  he  was  never  coming  back," 
he  said  to  himself,  "  I  would  not  much  care  what 
else   happened." 

And  then  he  followed  the  boys  up  to  the  ehateav 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  good  squire  did  not  make  his  inhospitable 
remark  in  regard  to  the  monk  because  he  had 
any  dislike  for  monks  or  priests  in  general.  He 
had  as  high  an  opinion  of  the  members  of  the  clergy 
as  any  one,  but  he  had  a  very  strong  dislike  for 
this  particular  prior.  To  understand  his  reasons  for 
this  feeling,  we  must  know  that,  not  very  long  be- 
fore the  period  at  which  our  story  begins,  and  soon 
after  the  Queen  Regent  had  conquered  the  rebellious 
provinces,  and  so  consolidated  the  kingdom,  there 
was  established  in  the  city  of  Toulouse  that  terrible 
tribunal  of  the  Romish  Church  known  as  the  Holy 
Inquisition.  Here  persons  suspected  of  holding  opin- 
ions in  opposition  to  the  doctrines  taught  by  the 
Church    were    tried,    often    subjected    to     tortures    in 

order    to    induce    them    to    confess    the    crimes  with 

ii 


12  THE   STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

which  they  were  charged,  and  punished  with  great 
severity  if  found  guilty.  This  inquisition  was  under 
the  charge  of  the  Dominican  friars,  of  which  order 
the  man  who  had  just  passed  out  of  the  little  gate 
was   a   member. 

For  several  weeks  the  frequent  visits  of  this  prior 
to  the  Countess  of  Viteau  had  given  a  great  deal 
of  uneasiness  to  Bernard.  The  man  was  not  one  of 
the  regular  religious  instructors  of  the  family,  nor 
had  he  anything  to  do  with  the  education  of  the 
boys.  There  was  some  particular  reason  for  his 
visits  to  the  chateau,  and  of  this  the  household  at 
large  knew  nothing ;  but  the  fact  of  his  being  a 
Dominican,  and  therefore  connected  with  the  Inquisi- 
tion, made  him  an  unpleasant  visitor  to  those  who 
saw  his  comings  and  goings,  but  who  did  not  know 
their   object. 

Squire  Bernard  thought  that  he  knew  why  this 
Brother  Anselmo  came  so  often  to  the  chateau,  but 
he  could  not  be  certain  that  he  was  right.  So  he 
kept  his  ideas  to  himself,  and  did  no  more  than 
hope   that   each  visit   of  the  friar  might   be   the  last. 

When  the  two  brothers  entered  the  chateau,  they 
went  directly  to  their  mother's  apartments.  They 
found  her  in  a  large  room,  the  floor  of  which  was 
covered  with  soft  rushes,  for  there  were  no  carpets 
in   those   days.      There    was    an    abundance   of   furni- 


THE   STORY  OF    VITEAU.  1 3 

ture,  but  it  was  stiff  and  heavy,  and  on  the  walls 
there  hung  various  pieces  of  tapestry,  of  silk  or 
wool,  most  of  which  the  good  lady  had  embroidered 
herself. 

The  Countess  of  Viteau  was  a  woman  of  about 
thirty-five  years  of  age,  and  of  a  sweet  but  dignified 
appearance  and  demeanor.  She  was  evidently  very 
fond  of  her  children,  and  they  were  equally  fond  of 
her.  She  had  a  book  in  her  hand  when  the  boys 
entered  (it  should  be  remembered  that  she  was  one 
of  the  very  few  ladies  of  that  day  who  read  books), 
but  she  laid  it  down,  and  drew  her  sons  to  her, 
one   on   each    side. 

"  Mother,"  said  Louis,  as  she  leaned  over  to  kiss 
the  young  fellow  who  was  to  leave  her  the  next 
day  for  such  a  long,  long  time, — "  Mother,  I  wish 
you  would  write  a  letter  to  the  Count  de  Barran, 
and  ask  him  to  have  me  taught  falconry  as  soon  as 
possible,  and  also  to  get  me  a  hawk  of  my  own, 
and   have   him   trained." 

"What  put  that  into  your  head?"  asked  his 
mother,  who  could  not  help  smiling  at  this  absurd 
idea  on  the  part  of  a  boy  who  was  going  to  begin 
life  as  a  page,  but  who  expected  to  enter  at  once  into 
the   sports   and    diversions    of  the    grown-up   nobility. 

"  It  was  Raymond's  falcon  that  made  me  think  of 
it,"  said   Louis.     "  I  suppose  I  shall  not  see  that  bird 


14  THE   STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

fly, — at  least,  not  for  ever  so  long, — and  so  I  want 
one   of  my  own." 

"  I  did  not  intend  you  should  know  anything 
about  Raymond's  falcon,"  said  his  mother,  "  for  I 
knew  it  would  fill  your  head  so  full  that  there 
would  be  no  room  for  anything  else.  But  we  will 
not  talk  of  falcons  now.  I  have  a  great  deal  to 
say  to   my  little   boy " 

"  Not  so  very  little  either,"  said  Louis,  drawing  him- 
self up   to   his   full   height. 

"  Who  is  going  away,"  continued  his  mother,  "  to 
learn  to  be  a  page,  a  squire,  and  a  Christian  knight." 

We  need  not  know  what  she  said  to  him,  but 
the  three  were  together  until  the  room  grew  dark, 
and  there  was  no  treasure  that  Louis  could  take 
with  him  which  could  be  so  valuable  as  the  motherly 
advice   he   received   that   afternoon. 

Louis  was  to  start  for  Barran's  castle  in  the  fore- 
noon of  the  next  day,  and  was  to  be  accompanied 
by  Bernard  and  a  small  body  of  archers,  for,  al- 
though there  were  no  wars  going  on  at  that  time, 
there  was  always  danger  from  robbers.  All  over 
France,  and  in  many  other  parts  of  Europe,  there 
were  well-organized  bands  of  men  who  made  a  regular 
business  of  pillaging  travelers  on  the  highways.  So  it 
was  necessary  that  Louis  should  have  with  him  enough 
men  to  defend  him  against  an  attack  by  these  brigands. 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  1 5 

Very  early  in  the  morning, — earlier  than  any  one 
else  in  the  chateau,  excepting  a  few  servants, — Louis 
arose  and  dressed  himself.  He  did  this  very  quietly, 
so  as  not  to  wake  his  brother.  Then  he  stole  softly 
down  to  a  room  in  the  lower  part  of  the  building, 
where  he  knew  Bernard  kept  the  falcon  he  was 
training.  The  door  of  this  room  was  shut,  but  not 
locked,  and  Louis  slipped  in  without  waking  the 
squire,  who  slept  soundly  in  a  chamber  just  across 
the  passage-way. 

He  closed  the  door,  and  looking  around  the  room, 
into  which  a  little  light  came  from  a  small,  high  win- 
dow, he  soon  perceived  the  falcon  sitting  on  a  wooden 
perch,  in  a  corner.  The  bird  was  unhooded,  but 
was  tied  by  the  leg,  with  a  short  cord,  to  the  perch. 
On  a  small  table  near  by  lay  the  hood.  As  Louis 
approached  the  falcon,  it  turned  its  head  quickly 
towards  him  and  slightly  raised  its  wings.  This 
threatening  gesture  made  the  boy  hesitate;  he  did 
not  want  to  be  bitten  or  scratched.  Drawing  back, 
and  looking  about  him,  he  saw  a  cloth  lying  upon 
a  bench.  Seizing  this,  he  quickly  threw  it  over  the 
bird,  untied  the  cord,  and,  muffling  with  the  cloth  a 
little  bell  which  was  fastened  to  one  of  the  falcon's 
legs,  Louis  snatched  up  the  hood  from  the  table, 
and,  with  the  bird  under  his  arm,  he  hurried  out 
of  the   room,  carefully  closing   the   door    behind   him. 


16  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

Out-of-doors,  he  quickly  made  his  way  to  the  little 
gate  at  the  bottom  of  the  grounds,  and,  through 
this,  passed  out  into  the  road.  When  he  reached  a 
spot  where  he  could  not  be  seen  from  the  chateau, 
he  sat  down,  carefully  uncovered  the  head  of  the 
falcon,  and  clapped  over  it  the  little  hood.  Then  he 
threw  aside  the  cloth,  and  set  the  bird  upon  his 
wrist,  where  it  perched  contentedly,  although  not  find- 
ing it  quite  so  firm  a  support  as  the  strong  hand  of 
Bernard.  While  wearing  the  hood,  which  completely 
covered   its   eyes,  it  would   not   attempt   to   fly. 

"  Now,  then,"  said  he  to  himself,  "  I  shall  try  what 
this  fine  bird  can  do ;  and  when  I  have  had  an 
hour's  sport,  I  shall  take  it  back  and  put  it  on  its 
perch,  and  no  one  will  be  any  the  worse  for  it.  If 
I  meet  Bernard,  as  I  go  back,  I  shall  not  care.  I 
shall  have  had  my  bit  of  falconry,  and  he  can  have 
his  falcon.  There  must  be  herons,  or  some  kind  of 
birds,  down  in  that  field  by  the  wood,  where  we  saw 
Bernard   yesterday." 

When  Louis  reached  the  field,  he  gazed  eagerly  into 
the  air  and  all  about  him  for  some  flying  creature, 
after  which  he  could  send  his  falcon  in  chase.  But 
nothing,  excepting  a  few  small  birds,  could  he  dis- 
cover, and  he  was  not  to  be  content  with  such  game 
as  they.  If  he  had  had  dogs  with  him,  or  knew 
how   himself   to   arouse   the    birds    from   their   covers, 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  \J 

he  might  have  had  a  chance  to  send  his  falcon  after 
a  long-legged  heron,  or  a  pheasant ;  but  no  large 
bird  chose  to  make  its  appearance,  and  poor  Louis 
began  to  think  that  he  would  lose  the  one  chance 
he  had  of  seeing  Raymond's  falcon  in  pursuit  of  its 
prey. 

Suddenly,  from  under  some  bushes  near  the  edge 
of  the  wood,  a  large  hare  leaped  out,  and  went 
jumping  across  an  open  space  towards  a  little  copse 
a  short  distance  beyond  the  spot  where  Louis  stood. 
Our  young  hunter  knew  that  falcons  chased  hares, 
and  such  small  animals,  as  well  as  winged  game, 
and  he  instantly  jerked  the  hood  from  the  head  of 
his   bird,  and   cast   it   off  toward   the   flying   hare. 

But,  to  his  amazement,  the  falcon  did  not  pursue 
the  hare,  which,  in  a  few  moments,  disappeared  in 
the  copse.  Louis  did  not  know  that  hawks  or  fal- 
cons were  not  always  trained  to  chase  both  hares 
and  birds,  and  that  this  one  had  been  accustomed 
to   fly  after   winged   game   only. 

Instead  of  swooping  upon  the  hare,  which,  it  is 
probable,  it  did  not  see,  the  falcon  rose  into  the  air, 
and   began   to   soar  around   in   a  great   circle. 

"  Perhaps  it  will  see  some  game  for  itself,"  thought 
Louis,  "  and   that   will   do   just   as   well." 

But  the  falcon  did  not  appear  to  be  in  pursuit  of 
anything.     It  only  flew  around  and  around,  apparently 


1 8  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

rising  higher  and  higher  each  moment.  Louis 
now  became  anxious  for  it  to  come  down,  so  that 
he  could  try  again  in  some  other  place  to  scare  up 
some  game,  and  he  began  to  whistle  and  call,  as  he 
had  heard  the  falconers  do  when  they  wished  their 
birds   to   descend. 

But  the  falcon  paid  no  attention  to  his  calls,  and, 
after  rising  to  a  great  height,  it  flew  away  to  the 
south,  and  presently  was   lost  to   sight. 

Poor  Louis  was  overwhelmed  with  grief.  It  seemed 
to  him  that  he  could  never  hear  anything  so  dismal 
as  the  last  tinkle  of  the  little  bell  on  the  falcon's 
leg,  nor  see  anything  so  sad  as  the  dark  speck 
which  he  watched  until  it  appeared  to  melt  away 
into   the   distant   sky. 

For  some  minutes  Louis  stood  gazing  up  into  the 
air,  and  then  he  hung  his  head,  while  a  few  tears 
came  into  his  eyes.  But  he  was  a  sturdy  boy  in 
mind  and  body,  and  he  did  not  cry  much.  He 
slowly  turned,  and,  with  the  hood  of  the  falcon  in 
his   hand,  went  back   to   the   house. 

"  If  they  ask  me  about  it,  I  shall  tell  them,"  he 
said  to  himself,  "  but  I  hope  they  will  not  find  it 
out  just   as   I   am   starting  away." 

It  was  yet  quite  early  when  Louis  reached  his 
room,  where  he  found  his  brother  still  asleep,  and 
there  was    soon   so    much    hurry  and    bustle,  in    the 


THE  STORY    OF    VITEAU.  19 

preparation  for  the  departure  of  the  little  expedition, 
that  the  absence  of  the  falcon  did  not  seem  to  have 
been    discovered. 

After  a  prolonged  leave-taking,  and  a  great  many 
tears  from  his  mother  and  brother,  and  from  many 
of  the  retainers  and  servants  of  the  chateau,  Louis 
set  forth  for  the  castle  of  Barran.  He  rode  his 
mother's  palfrey,  a  small  and  gentle  horse,  and  was 
followed  by  quite  a  train  of  archers  and  men-at- 
arms,  headed   by  the   trusty  Bernard. 


CHAPTER    III. 

WHEN  the  first  pain  caused  by  the  separation 
from  his  dear  mother  and  brother  began  to 
subside  in  Louis'  heart, — and  it  must  be  admitted 
that  it  began  to  subside  pretty  soon,  the  day  being 
so  bright  and  everybody  in  such  good  spirits, — he 
-felt  quite  proud  to  see  himself  at  the  head  of  such 
a  goodly  company,  and  greatly  wished  that  they 
would  fall  in  with  some  enemy,  so  that  he  might 
have  a  little  conquering  to  tell  about  when  he  should 
reach  his  future  home.  But  no  enemy  was  met,  and, 
if  a  fight  had  taken  place,  it  is  not  likely  that  the 
boy  would  have  been  able  to  boast  of  his  part  in 
it,  for  Bernard  was  very  careful  of  his  young  charge, 
and  as  soon  as  they  had  left  the  neighborhood  of 
the   Chateau    de   Viteau,  and   had   entered    the    forest 

through    which    ran    their   road   for  the   greater    part 

30 


S3f||  \ 


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» 


PES  ^^~^  t    SP®*^  T^^^<^^^  ■/: v. '-  - '  ■■■  -^-v - -s-v*8«^ 


<m 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  21 

of  the  journey,  he  made  Louis  ride  about  the  mid- 
dle of  the  little  procession,  while  he  himself  went 
a  short  distance  in  advance,  looking  carefully  about 
him  for  the  first  signs  of  robbers,  or  any  one  else 
who   might  be  likely  to   dispute  their  passage. 

But  no  such  persons  were  met,  and  towards  the 
end  of  the  afternoon  Louis  and  his  train  rode  into 
the   court-yard   of  the    castle. 

The  moment  that  he  entered  the  great  gates,  the 
quick  eye  of  the  boy  perceived  that  he  had  come 
to  a  place  very  different  from  his  mother's  chateau. 
He  had  supposed  there  would  be  a  difference,  but 
had  never  imagined  it  would  be  so  great.  There 
were  a  good  many  serving-people,  of  various  ranks 
and  orders,  at  Viteau.  There  were  ladies  in  attend- 
ance on  his  mother;  and  sometimes  there  were 
knights  and  other  visitors,  whose  diversions  had  made 
what  Raymond  and  Louis  had  considered  a  very 
gay  time;  but  there  never  had  been  anything  like 
the  lively  scenes  which  met  the  eye  of  our  young 
friend,  both  in  the  court-yard  and  in  the  halls  of 
the  castle  itself.  Outside  there  were  boy-pages  run- 
ning on  various  errands,  or  standing  about,  watching 
other  people  and  neglecting  their  own  business;  and 
there  were  squires,  men-at-arms,  and  archers  who 
were  lounging  in  the  shade,  or  busily  at  work  rub- 
bing up  a   piece   of  armor,  or  putting  a  point  on  an 


22  THE  STORY  OF  VITEAU. 

arrow-head  or  on  a  blunted  lance.  Here  and  there 
was  a  knight  not  clad  in  armor,  but  in  fine  silk 
and  embroidered  cloth,  looking  at  horses  which  were 
being  led  about  the  inclosure  by  varlets  or  inferior 
serving-men,  who  generally  were  dressed  in  clothes 
of  dirty  leather.  Two  barefooted  monks,  one  of  them 
holding  the  bridle  of  a  donkey,  with  a  bag  thrown 
across  his  back,  were  talking  together  near  the  gate. 
Some  people  were  laughing,  some  were  talking,  some 
were  calling  to  others  at  a  distance,  and  some  were 
hammering;  the  horses  were  making  a  good  deal  of 
noise  with  their  feet ;  a  man  was  blowing  a  horn, 
which  he  had  begun  to  blow  as  soon  as  Louis  en- 
tered the  gates,  and  which  was  intended,  it  appeared, 
as  a  general  announcement  that  somebody  had  arrived 
who  was  a  friend,  and  had  been  admitted  freely.  All 
together,  there  was  more  noise,  and  moving  about, 
and  standing  still,  and  lying  down,  than  Louis  had 
ever    seen,  at   one  time,  before. 

Inside  the  castle  there  was  not  so  much  bustle ; 
but  knights  and  ladies,  the  first  generally  dressed 
much  more  finely,  and  with  more  show  of  color  and 
ornament  than  their  female  companions,  were  to  be 
seen  here  and  there.  The  pages  who  were  not  run- 
ning about  or  standing  still  outside,  seemed  to  be 
doing  the  same  inside ;  there  was  a  clatter  of  metal 
and  wooden  dishes  in  the   dining-hall,  where  the  ser- 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  23 

vants  were  preparing  supper ;  and,  in  a  room  open- 
ing into  the  great  hall,  a  tall  knight  sat  upon  a 
stool,  with  a  little  harp  on  his  knee,  singing  one 
of  the  romantic  songs  which  were  so  much  liked  in 
those  days,  and  accompanying  his  voice  with  a  steady 
I  tum-tum "  on  the  harp-strings.  Around  him  were 
several  knights  and  ladies,  some  sitting  and  some 
standing,  and  all  listening,  with  much  satisfaction,  to 
his   song. 

The  Count  de  Barran,  a  tall,  spare  man,  with  an 
ugly  but  good-humored  face,  gave  Louis  a  kindly 
welcome. 

"  He  is  the  son  of  Raymond  de  Viteau,  my  old 
brother-at-arms,"  he  said  to  a  knight  with  a  great 
brown  beard,  who  stood  beside  him,  "  and  I  shall 
try  to  make  of  him  as  good  a  knight  as  his- — as 
I   can." 

"  You  were  going  to  say  '  as  good  a  knight  as 
his  father,'  good  sir,"  said  Louis  quickly,  looking  up 
into  Barran's  face.  "  Do  you  think  I  cannot  be 
that  ?  " 

"  That  will  depend  upon  yourself,"  said  the  master 
of  the  castle.  "  Your  father  was  brave  and  noble 
above  his  fellow-knights.  If  you  become  his  equal, 
my  little  fellow,  I  shall  be  very  proud.  And  now  I 
shall  send  you  to  my  sister,  the  Lady  Clemence, 
who   will   see  that  you   are   taken  care   of." 


24  THE   STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

"  The  boy 's  quickness  of  wit  comes  out  well,  even 
now,"  said  the  brown-bearded  knight;  "but  you  may 
have  to  wait  for  the  bravery  and  the  honor  to  show 
themselves." 

"  Not  long,  I  hope,"  replied  Barran.  "  Good  blood 
must   soon   make   some   sign,  if  he   has   it   in    him." 

The  next  day  Bernard  and  his  train  returned  to 
Viteau,  with  many  messages  from  Louis,  and  the  life 
of  the  boy,  as  the  youngest  page  in  the  castle, 
fairly  commenced.  In  a  few  days  he  began  to 
understand  his  duties,  and  to  make  friends  among  the 
other  pages,  all  of  whom  were  sons  of  well-born  peo- 
ple. These  boys  had  come  to  the  castle  to  receive 
the  only  education  they  would  ever  have.  Louis  did 
not  at  first  very  much  like  to  wait  upon  the  knights 
and  ladies  at  table,  and  to  find  himself  expected  to 
serve  so  many  people  in  so  many  ways  ;  but  he  soon 
became  used  to  these  things,  especially  when  he  saw 
other  boys,  whom  he  knew  to  be  just  as  good  as 
he   was,  doing   what   he   was   expected   to   do. 

He  had  a  bright,  interesting  face,  and  he  soon  be- 
came a  favorite,  especially  among  the  ladies,  for  they 
liked  to  be  waited  upon  by  a  page  who  was  so 
good-humored  and  quick.  The  Count  de  Barran  was 
not  married,  and  his  sister,  the  Lady  Clemence,  was 
at  the   head   of  domestic   affairs   in   his  castle. 

The  only  very  young  person  among  the   visitors  at 


THE   STORY  OF  V2TEAU.  2$ 

the  castle  was  a  little  girl  named  Agnes,  the 
motherless  daughter  of  Count  Hugo  de  Lanne,  the 
brown-bearded  man  who  had  talked  with  De  Barran 
about  his  new  page.  Between  this  girl  and  Louis 
a  friendship  soon  sprang  up.  Agnes  was  a  year 
older  than  he,  and  she  knew  so  much  of  castle- 
life,  and  of  the  duties  of  a  page,  that  she  became 
one  of  his  best  instructors.  She  was  a  lively,  im- 
pulsive girl ;  and  this  was  the  reason,  no  doubt, 
why   she   and    Louis  got   on   so   well   together. 

One  morning,  as  Agnes  was  passing  through  an 
upper  hall,  she  saw,  standing  at  a  window  which 
overlooked  the  court-yard,  our  young  friend  Louis, 
with  an  enormous  battle-ax  over  his  shoulder.  As 
she  approached,  he  turned  from  the  window,  out  of 
which   he   had  been   looking. 

"  What  in  the  world,"  she  cried,  "  are  you  doing 
with  that  great  ax,  and  what  makes  you  look  so 
doleful  ?  " 

"  I  am  taking  the  ax  down  to  the  armorer's  shop, 
to   be   sharpened   and   polished,"  he   said. 

"  It  is  too  big  a  thing  for  you  to  be  carrying 
about,"  said  Agnes,  "  and  it  seems  sharp  enough 
now.  And  as  to  you,  you  look  as  if  you  were 
going  somewhere  to  cut  your  head  off  with  it. 
What   is   the   matter   with   you?" 

"That    is    the    matter,"  said    Louis,  turning    again 

2 


26  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

to  the  window,  and  pointing  to  a  body  of  horsemen 
who  were  just  riding  out  of  the  gate.  They  had 
dogs  with  them,  and  several  of  them  carried  each  a 
hooded   falcon   perched   upon   his   wrist. 

"Did  you  want  to  go  hunting  herons?  Is  that 
what  troubles  you?"  asked  Agnes. 

"  No,  indeed ;  I  don't  want  to  go,"  said  Louis. 
"  I    hate   to   see   falcons." 

"What  did  you  look  at  them  for,  then?"  asked 
Agnes.  "  But  I  don't  see  how  you  can  hate  them. 
I  love  to  see  them  swooping  about,  so  lordly,  irr 
the  air.     Why  do  not  you  like  them  as  well  as  I  do?" 

Moved  by  a  strong  desire  to  share  his  secret  with 
some  one,  Louis,  after  a  little  hesitation,  finally  put 
the  battle-ax  on  the  floor,  and  told  Agnes  the  whole 
story  of  the  loss  of  his  brother's  falcon,  first  making 
her  promise  that  she  would  never  repeat  it  to  any 
one.  He  told  it  all  in  a  straightforward  way,  and 
finished  by  explaining  how  the  sight  of  the  hunters 
made  him  think  of  his  poor  brother,  who  could  not 
go  hawking  for  ever  so  long.  Indeed,  he  did  not 
know  that  Bernard  would  be  willing  to  get  another 
hawk  and  take  all  the  trouble  of  training  it.  He 
might  be   very  angry. 

"  I  think  it's  easy  enough  to  make  that  right," 
said  Agnes.  "  You  ought  to  give  your  brother 
another  hawk,  already  trained," 


THE   STORY  OF    VITEAU.  2J 

"  I    would   like   much  to    know   where   I   am  to  get 

it,"  said    Louis. 

Agnes   thought   for   a   moment. 

"  My  father  will  give  you  one,"  she  said,  "  if  I 
ask  him.  If  he  questions  me  as  to  what  you  want 
with  it,  I  can  tell  him,  with  truth,  that  you  want 
to  give  it  to  your  brother,  who  has  no  falcon,  and 
who   needs   one  very  much." 

"  Do  you  really  think  he  would  give  me  one  ? " 
asked    Louis,  with   brightening   face. 

"  I  am  sure  of  it,"  said  Agnes.  "  He  has  plenty 
of  trained  falcons,  and  he  could  spare  one  easily 
enough.  I  will  ask  him,  as  soon  as  he  comes  back 
to-day." 

Accordingly,  when  Count  Hugo  returned  from  his 
hawking  expedition  that  afternoon,  he  was  met  by 
his  little  daughter,  who  asked  him  for  a  falcon,  a 
well-trained  and  good  one,  which  could  hunt  hares 
as  well  as  birds,  and  which  would  be  sure  to  come 
back   to   its   master   whenever   it  was   called. 

Of  course  such  a  request  as  this  excited  some 
surprise,  and  required  a  good  deal  of  explanation. 
But  when  Count  Hugo,  who  was  a  very  indulgent 
father,  and  who  had  also  quite  a  liking  for  Louis, 
heard  what  was  to  be  done  with  the  bird,  he  con- 
sented  to    give   it. 

"  If  he   wanted   it   for   himself,"  he   said,  "  I  should 


28  THE   STORY  OF    V2TEAU. 

not  let  him  have  it,  for  a  page  has  no  need  of  fal- 
cons, and  a  boy  of  the  right  spirit  ought  not  to 
desire  gifts;  but,  as  he  wants  it  for  his  brother, 
who  is  in  a  station  to  use  it,  it  shows  a  generous 
disposition,  and  he  shall  have  it."  And  calling  to 
one  of  his  falconers  to  bring  him  a  hawk,  he  handed 
it  to  Agnes,  and  told  her  that  she  should  herselt 
give   it   to    her   young   friend. 

"  He  and  you  can  look  at  it  for  a  quarter  of  an 
hour,"  said  the  Count,  "and  then  he  must  bring  it 
back  to  Orion,  here,  who  will  feed  and  take  care 
of  it  until  the  boy  has  an  opportunity  of  sending  it 
to  his  brother.  Don't  take  its  hood  off,  and  keep 
your   fingers  well   clear   of  its   beak." 

When  Agnes  appeared  with  the  falcon  unsteadily 
perched  on  her  two  small  fists,  which  she  had  cov- 
ered with  a  scarf,  to  keep  its  talons  from  hurting 
her,  Louis  was  overwhelmed  with  delight.  He  was 
sure  that  this  was  a  much  finer  bird  than  the  one 
he   had   lost. 

When  the  falcon  had  been  sufficiently  admired, 
and  had  been  returned  to  its  keeper,  and  when 
Louis  had  run  to  find  Count  Hugo,  and  had  thanked 
him  for  his  kindness,  the  question  arose  between  the 
two  young  friends :  How  was  he  to  be  carried  to 
Raymond  ? 

"If  I  had   any  way  of  riding  there,  I'd  take   it  to 


LOUIS,    AGNES,    AND   THE   FALCON. 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  29 

him  myself.  I  want  him  to  have  it  just  as  soon 
as   he   can    get   it,"  said    Louis. 

"  I  can  lend  you  my  jennet,  said  Agnes.  "  He  is 
small,  but   can    travel    far." 

"  You  will  lend  him  ! "  cried  Louis.  "  And  are 
you  not  going  to  use  him  for  two  days  ?  It  will 
take  at  the  very  least  two  days  to  go  to  Viteau 
and    come   back." 

"  I  may  not  ride  him  for  a  week,"  said  Agnes. 
"  But  you  must  not  travel  to  your  mother's  house 
alone.  You  must  wait  until  some  company  is  going 
that  way." 

Louis  would  have  been  willing  to  start  off  by 
himself,  but  he  knew  he  would  not  be  allowed  to 
do  so  ;  and  he  had  to  curb  his  impatience  for  three 
whole  days  before  an  opportunity  of  making  his 
journey  offered  itself.  Then  a  knight  from  the  south 
was  leaving  the  castle,  with  a  small  train,  and  as 
they  would  pass  near  Viteau,  Louis  was  allowed  to 
accompany  them. 

The  Count  de  Barran  was  not  pleased  that  his 
new  page  should  ask  for  leave  of  absence  so  soon  ; 
but,  as  it  was  represented  that  there  was  good  rea- 
son for  the  journey,  and  as  the  Lady  Clemence  urged 
the   boy's    request,  he   was   allowed   to    go. 

So,  early  one  morning  Louis  started  away,  the 
gayest     of    his     company,    his    little     Spanish     steed 


30  THE   STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

frisking  beneath  him,  the  falcon  perched  bravely  on 
his  arm,  and  Agnes  waving  her  scarf  to  him  from 
a   window  of    the    castle. 

All  went  well  during  the  forenoon,  excepting  that 
the  falcon  became  very  heavy,  and  had  to  be  perched 
on  the  saddle-bow ;  but,  during  a  short  halt  which 
the  party  made  about  noon,  Louis  discovered  that 
it  was  not  the  intention  of  the  knight  from  the  south 
to  take  the  most  direct  road  to  Viteau.  He  meant, 
a  mile  or  two  farther  on,  to  turn  to  the  east,  and 
to  spend  the  night  at  a  chateau  belonging  to  a 
friend.  Then,  the  next  day,  he  would  pursue  hi' 
journey  and  would  pass,  by  a  rather  circuitous  roao\ 
near   to   Viteau. 

Louis  did  not  want  to  stop  all  night  anywhere 
excepting  in  his  mother's  house,  and  he  made  up 
his  mind  that,  when  he  reached  the  forking  of  the 
road,  he  would  leave  the  party  and  gallop  on  to 
Viteau.  It  could  not  be  far,  and  his  spirited  little 
horse   would    soon   take    him   there. 

Consequently,  when  he  came  to  the  place  where 
his  companions  took  their  way  eastward,  Louis  fell 
behind  and,  instead  of  following  them,  he  kept  on 
the  road  to  Viteau,  urging  his  horse  forward  at  the 
top  of  its  speed.  He  hoped  that  his  departure  had 
not  been  noticed,  and  that  he  would  not  be  missed 
until    he    had    gone    so    far    that    he    could    not   be 


THE   STORY  OF    VITEAU.  31 

overtaken.  He  expected  to  be  pursued,  for  he  knew 
the  knight  and  his  men  would  not  allow  him  to  go 
off  by  himself  if  it   could   be   prevented. 

So  he  galloped  on,  his  falcon  tightly  grasping  the 
saddle-bow,  and  he  himself  turning  around  every  few 
minutes,  to  see  if  he  were  followed.  But  he  saw 
no  horsemen  riding  after  him.  The  knight's  men 
had  straggled  a  good  deal  after  they  had  turned 
into  the  new  road,  and  Louis  was  not  missed  for 
an  hour  or  two.  Then,  wdien  his  absence  was  dis- 
covered, the  knight  sent  three  men  after  him,  with 
instructions  to  bring  him  back,  or  to  escort  him  to 
Viteau,  in  case  they  found  him  near  that  place.  It 
was  supposed,  of  course,  that  he  had  slipped  away, 
so   as   to    get   home   as    soon   as  possible. 

The  men  did  not  like  the  job  at  all,  for  they 
feared  they  would  not  be  able  to  return  until  after 
dark  to  the  chateau  where  their  party  was  to  spend 
the  night,  and  they  did  not  fancy  traveling  at  night 
for  the  sake  of  a  boy  they  knew  very  slightly,  and 
cared  very  little  about.  So,  after  riding  five  or  six 
miles,  they  agreed  to  halt  until  nearly  night,  and 
ride  back  to  their  party  at  the  top  of  their  speed, 
and  report  that  they  had  overtaken  Louis,  and  had 
accompanied  him  to  a  spot  within  sight  of  his 
mother's  chateau.  This  story  was  believed  by  the 
knight   from   the   south,  who    had    no   very  clear  idea 


32  THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

as  to  the  distance  of  Viteau  from  the  forks  of  the 
road ;  and  no  further  thought  was  given  to  the  young 
page. 

As  for  Louis,  he  kept  madly  on  his  way.  His 
horse  was  strong  and  fleet,  but  it  was  beginning  to 
flag  a  little  in  its  pace,  when,  suddenly,  it  stopped 
short.  A  tall  man  stood  in  front  of  it,  and  in  a 
moment  had  seized  the  panting  animal  by  the  bridle. 
Another  man,  with  a  pike  in  his  hand,  appeared  on 
the  right,  while  several  others  came  out  from  behind 
some  bushes  on  the  left.  The  tall  man  wore  a 
cuirass,  or  body-armor,  of  steel  rings  linked  closely 
together,  which  had  probably  once  been  bright  and 
shining,  but  which  was  now  very  rusty  and  old. 
He  wore  no  other  armor,  and  his  clothes  seemed 
torn  and  soiled.  The  whole  party,  indeed,  as  Louis, 
with  open  mouth  and  eyes,  glanced  quickly  around 
him, — too  much  startled  to  speak, — seemed  to  be  a 
very  rusty  set   of  fellows. 

Louis  did  not  long  remain  silent.  Indeed,  he 
was  the  first  one  to  speak.  He  had  often  seen 
such  persons  as  these  among  the  serfs  and  varlets 
at  the  castle,  and  he  had  been  accustomed  to  respect 
from   them. 

"  Ho  there ! "  he  cried,  "  move  out  of  my  way. 
Step  from  the  road,  do  you  hear  ?  I  am  going  home 
to   my  mother's   chateau,  and   I   am   in  a  hurry." 


THE   STORY  OF    VITEAU.  33 

"  Your  mother  can  wait,"  said  the  tall  man.  "  We 
should  be  pleased  to  have  your  company  ourselves 
to-night.     So  do  not  be  angry.     You  can  not  go  on." 

"  I  believe,"  cried  Louis,  his  eyes  flashing,  although 
they  were  full  of  tears,  "  that  you  are  a  set  of 
robbers." 

"That  is  true,"  said  the  other,  "and  this  little 
man,  and  this  little  horse,  and  this  ve*^  €ne  falcon, 
are   our  booty." 


CHAPTER    IV. 

LOUIS  did  not  submit  readily  to  his  captors.  At 
first  he  was  angry  ;  then  he  cried,  and  when  some 
of  the  men  laughed  at  him  for  being  a  baby  he 
got  angry  again,  and  told  them  they  were  a  band 
of  cowards  to  set  upon  him  in  this  way, — a  dozen 
men  on  one  boy, — and  that  if  they  wanted  to  rob 
him  they  might  do  it  and  go  about  their  business. 
He   did   not   care;    he   could   walk    home. 

"  No,  no,  my  valiant  page,"  said  the  leader  of  the 
robbers ;  "  we  don't  want  you  to  walk  and  we  don't 
want  you  to  go  home.  We  shall  take  you  with  us 
now,  and   we   will    see  about   the   robbing   afterward." 

And  with  this  he  turned  the  little  horse  around, 
and  led  him,  by  a  path  which  Louis  had  passed 
without  noticing  it,  into  the  depths  of  the  forest. 
On   the  way,  the  robber   asked   his  young   prisoner   a 

34 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  35 

great  many  questions  regarding  his  family,  his  con- 
nections, and  his  present  business  in  riding  thus 
alone  through  the  forest  roads.  To  these  questions 
Louis  was  ready  enough  to  give  answer,  for  it  was 
not  his  nature  to  conceal  anything,  unless  he  thought 
it  absolutely  necessary.  Indeed,  he  was  quite  proud 
of  the  opportunity  thus  afforded  him  of  talking  about 
the  rank  and  importance  of  his  mother,  and  of 
dwelling  upon  the  great  power  and  warlike  renown 
of  the   nobleman    under   whom   he   served. 

"  They  will  not  let  me  stay  here  long,  you  may 
be  sure  of  that,"  said  Louis.  "As  soon  as  they 
hear  that  you  have  carried  me  off,  they  will  take 
me  away  from  you." 

"  I  hope  so,  indeed,"  said  the  robber,  laughing ; 
"  and  if  I  had  not  thought  that  they  would  take 
you  from  me,  I  should  not  have  taken  the  trouble 
to   capture   you." 

"  Oh,  I  know  what  you  mean,"  said  the  boy. 
"  You    expect  them   to    ransom   me." 

"  I    most   certainly  do,"  replied  the   other. 

"  But  they  will  not  do  it,"  cried  Louis.  "  They 
will   come  with   soldiers  and   take  me   from   you  ! " 

"  We   shall   see,"  returned   the   robber. 

It  was  almost  dark  when,  by  many  winding  and 
sometimes  almost  invisible  paths  through  the  forest, 
the   party  reached   a   collection   of    rude    huts,    which 


36  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

were  evidently  the  present  dwelling-places  of  these 
robbers,  or  cotereaux,  as  they  were  called.  There 
were  several  classes  of  highwaymen,  or  brigands,  in 
France  at  this  time,  and  of  these  the  cotereaux  were, 
probably,  the   most   numerous. 

There  were  fires  built  in  various  places  about  the 
open  space  in  which  the  huts  had  been  erected, 
and  there  were  a  good  many  men  around  the  fires. 
A  smell  of  cooking  meat  made  Louis  feel  sure  that 
supper  would  soon  be  ready,  and  this  was  a  com- 
forting thing  to  him,  for  he  was  very  hungry.  The 
supper  which  was  served  to  him  was  of  plain  food, 
but  he  had  enough,  and  the  bed  he  slept  on,  at  the 
back  part  of  the  Captain's  hut,  was  nothing  but  a 
lot  of  dry  leaves  and  twigs,  with  a  coarse  cloth 
thrown  over  it;  but  Louis  was  very  tired,  and  it 
was  not   long  before   he   was   sound   asleep. 

He  was  much  troubled,  of  course,  at  the  thought 
of  going  to  bed  in  this  way,  in  the  midst  of  a  band 
of  robbers,  but  he  was  not  afraid  that  they  would 
do  him  any  injury,  for  he  had  heard  enough  about 
these  cotereaux  to  know  that  they  took  prisoners 
almost  always  for  the  purpose  of  making  money  out 
of  them,  and  not  to  do  them  useless  harm.  If  he 
had  been  an  older  and  a  deeper  thinker,  he  would, 
probably,  have  thought  of  the  harm  which  might  be 
done   to   him   in  case    no   money  could    be    made   by 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  37 

his  capture ;  but  this  matter  did  not  enter  his  mind. 
He  went  to  sleep  with  the  feeling  that  what  he 
wanted  now  was  a  good  night's  rest,  and  that,  in 
some  way  or  other,  all  would  be  right  on  the  morrow. 

Michol,  the  captain  of  the  band,  was  very  plain- 
spoken,  the  next  morning,  in  telling  Louis  his  plans 
in  regard  to  him.  "  I  know  well,"  he  said,  "  that 
your  mother  is  able  to  pay  a  handsome  ransom  for 
you,  and,  if  she  is  so  hard-hearted  that  she  will  not 
do  it,  I  can  depend  on  Barran.  He  will  not  let  a 
page  from  his  castle  pine  away  in  these  woods,  for 
the   sake   of  a   handful    of  gold." 

"  My  mother  is  not  hard-hearted,"  said  Louis, 
"  and  I  am  not  going  to  pine  away,  no  matter  how 
long  you  keep  me.  Do  you  intend  to  send  to  my 
mother  to-day?" 

"  Not  so  soon  as  that,"  replied  Michol.  "  I  shall 
let  her  have  time  to  feel  what  a  grievous  thing  it 
is  to  have  a  son  carried  away  to  the  heart  of  the 
forest,  where  she  can  never  find  him,  and  where  he 
must  stay,  month  after  month  and  year  after  year, 
until  she  pays  his  worthy  captors  what  she  thinks 
the   boy  is   worth." 

"  I'll  tell  you  what  I'll  do,"  said  Louis.  "  If  you 
will  give  me  my  horse  and  my  falcon,  which  your 
men  have  taken  from  me,  and  will  let  me  have 
again   my  dagger,  I   will   go   to    Viteau,   myself,    and 


38  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAV. 

tell  my  mother  about  the  ransom ;  and  I  promise 
you  that  she  will  send  you  all  the  money  she  can 
afford  to  spend  for  me  in  that  way.  And,  if  there 
is  no  one  else  to  bring  it, — for  our  men  might  be 
afraid  to  venture  among  so  many  robbers, — I  shall 
bring  it  myself,  on  my  way  back  to  Barran's  castle. 
I    am   not   afraid   to   come." 

"  I  am  much  pleased  to  hear  that,  my  boy,"  said 
Michol,  "  but  I  do  not  like  your  plan.  When  I 
am  ready,  I  shall  send  a  messenger,  and  no  one 
will  be  afraid  to  bring  me  the  money,  when  every- 
thing is  settled.  But  one  thing  you  can  do.  If 
you  have  ever  learned  to  write, — and  I  have  heard 
that  the  Countess  of  Viteau  has  taught  her  sons 
to  be  scholars, — you  may  write  a  letter  to  your 
mother,  and  tell  her  in  what  a  doleful  plight  you 
find  yourself,  and  how  necessary  it  is  that  she  should 
send  all  the  money  that  I  ask  for.  Thus  she  will 
see  that  you  are  really  my  prisoner,  and  will  not 
delay  to  come  to  your  assistance.  One  of  my  men, 
Jasto,  will  give  you  a  pen  and  ink,  and  something 
to  write  your  letter  on.  You  may  go,  now,  and 
look  for  Jasto.  You  will  know  him  by  his  torn 
clothes   and    his   thirst   for   knowledge." 

"  Torn  clothes ! "  said  Louis,  as  he  walked  away. 
"They  all  have  clothes  of  that  kind.  And,  as  for 
his   thirst   for  knowledge,  I  can   not   see  how  I  am  to 


THE  STORY    OF    VITEAU.  39 

find  out  that.  I  suppose  the  Captain  wanted  to 
give  me  something  to  do,  so  as  to  keep  me  from 
troubling  him.  I  am  not  going  to  look  for  any 
Jasto.  If  I  could  find  my  horse,  and  could  get  a 
chance,  I  should  jump  on  him  and  gallop  away  from 
these   fellows." 

Louis  wandered  about  among  the  huts,  peering 
here  and  there  for  a  sight  of  Agnes's  little  jennet. 
But  he  saw  nothing  of  him,  for  the  animal  had 
been  taken  away  to  another  part  of  the  forest,  to 
keep  company  with  other  stolen  horses.  And  even 
if  he  had  been  able  to  mount  and  ride  away  unob- 
served, it  would  have  been  impossible  for  Louis  to 
find  his  way  along  the  devious  paths  of  the  forest 
to  the  highway.  More  than  this,  although  he  seemed 
to  be  wandering  about  in  perfect  liberty,  some  of 
the  men  had  orders  to  keep  their  eyes  upon  the 
boy,  and  to  stop  him  if  he  endeavored  to  penetrate 
into   the   forest. 

"Ho,  there!"  said  a  man,  whom  Louis  suddenly 
met,  as  he  was  walking  between  two  of  the  huts, 
"  are  you  looking  for  anything  ?  What  have  you 
lost  ?  " 

"  I  have  lost  nothing,"  said  Louis,  deeming  it 
necessary  to    reply  only  to  the   last   question. 

"  I  thought  you  lost  your  liberty  yesterday,"  said 
the  other,  "and,  before  that,  you  must  have  lost  your 


40  THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

senses,  to  be  riding  alone  on  a  road,  walled  in  for 
miles  and  miles  by  trees,  bushes,  and  brave  cotereaux. 
But,  of  course,  I  did  not  suppose  that  you  came 
here  to  look  for  either  your  liberty  or  your  senses. 
What  is    it   you   want  ? " 

Louis  had  no  intention  of  telling  the  man  that  he 
was  looking  for  his  horse,  and  so,  as  he  felt  obliged 
to   give   some   answer,  he   said : 

"  I  was  sent  to  look  for  Jasto,  so  that  I  could 
write   a   letter   to   my  mother." 

"Jasto!"  exclaimed  the  man.  "Well,  my  young 
page,  if  you  find  everything  in  the  world  as  easily 
as  you  found  Jasto,  you  will  do  well.  I  am  Jasto. 
And  do   you    know    how  you    came  to    find    me  ? " 

"  I    chanced   to    meet  you,"  said    Louis. 

"  Not  so,"  said  the  other.  "  If  I  had  not  been 
looking  for  you,  you  never  would  have  found  me. 
Things  often  happen  in  that  manner.  If  what  we 
are  looking  for  does  not  look  for  us,  we  never  find 
it.  But  what  is  this  about  your  mother  and  a 
letter  ?  Sit  down  here,  in  this  bit  of  shade,  and  make 
these   things   plain   to    me." 

Louis  accepted  this  invitation,  for  the  sun  was 
beginning  to  be  warm,  and  he  sat  down  by  the  man, 
at   the   foot   of  a   tree. 

"  I  do  not  believe  you  are  Jasto,"  he  said,  look- 
ing   at     his     companion.       "  Your     clothes     are     not 


THE   STORY  OF    VITEAU.  4 1 

torn.       I    was    told    to    look    for    a    man    with   torn 
clothes." 

"  Torn  clothes  !  "  exclaimed  the  other.  "  What  are 
you  talking  of?  Not  torn  ?  Why,  boy,  my  clothes 
are  more  torn  and  are  worse  torn  and  have  staid 
torn  longer  than  the  clothes  of  any  man  in  all  our 
goodly  company.  But  they  have  been  mended,  you 
see,  and  that  is  what  makes  them  observable  among 
so   many  sadly  tattered    garments." 

Louis  looked  at  the  coarse  jerkin,  breeches,  and 
stockings  of  the  man  beside  him.  They  were,  cer- 
tainly, torn  and  ripped  in  many  places,  and  the  torn 
places  were  of  many  curious  shapes,  as  if  the  wearer 
had  been  making  a  hurried  journey  through  miles 
of  bramble  bushes ;  but  all  the  torn  places  were 
carefully  mended  with  bright-red  silk  thread,  which 
made  them  more  conspicuous  than  if  they  had  not 
been   mended  at   all. 

"  I  see  that  they  have  been  torn,"  said  Louis, 
"but   they  are   not  torn    now." 

"  A  great  mistake,  my  good  sir  page — a  great 
mistake,"  said  the  other ;  "  once  torn,  always  torn. 
If  my  clothes  are  mended,  that  but  gives  them 
another  quality.  Then  they  have  two  qualities. 
They  are  torn  and  they  are  mended.  If  one's  clothes 
are  torn,  the  only  way  to  have  clothes  that  are  not 
torn   is   to  have   new  ones.      Think  of  that,  boy,  and 


42  THE   STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

make  no  rents  in  yourself  nor  in  your  clothes. 
Although  mending  can  be  done  very  well,"  h~  added, 
looking  complacently  at  his  breeches,  "  the  evil  of  it 
is,  though,  that   it  always   shows," 

"  I    could   mend   better   than   that,"  said    Louis. 

"  That  is  to  be  hoped ;  it  is  truly  to  be  hoped," 
said  the  other,  "  for  you  have  had  better  chances 
than  I.  This  red  silk,  left  in  our  hands  by  a  fair 
lady,  who  was  taking  it  to  waste  it  in  embroidery 
in  some  friend's  castle,  was  all  the  thread  I  had  for 
my  mending.  Now,  you  could  have  all  things  suit- 
able for  your  mending,  whether  of  clothes  or  of 
mind  or  of  body,  if  it  should  so  happen  that  you 
should  have  rents  in  any  of  these.  But  tell  me, 
now,  about   your   letter." 

"There  is  nothing  to  tell,"  said  Louis,  "excepting 
that  your  Captain  wishes  me  to  write  a  letter  to 
my  mother,  urging  her  to  send  good  ransom  for 
me,  and  that  he  said  you  could  give  me  pen  and 
ink   and  something   to   write  upon." 

"  Pen  and  ink  are  well  enough,"  said  the  man, 
who,  as  Louis  now  believed,  was  really  Jasto,  "  for 
I  can  make  them.  But  something  to  write  on  is  a 
more  difficult  matter  to  find.  Paper  is  too  scarce, 
and  parchment  costs  too  much ;  and  so  there  is  none 
of  either  in  this  company.  But  I  shall  see  to  it 
that  you   have  something   to   write  on   when   you  are 


THE   STORY  OF  VITEAU.  43 

ready  to  write.  It  strikes  me  that  the  chief  trouble 
will  be  to  put  together  the  three  things — the  pen 
and  the  ink  and  the  something  to  write  on — in  such 
a  manner  as  to  make  a  letter  of  them.  Did  you 
ever   write   a   letter  ?  " 

"  Not  yet.  But  I  know  how  to  do  it,"  said  Louis ; 
and,  as  he  spoke,  he  remembered  how  he  had  prom- 
ised his  brother  to  write  a  letter  to  him.  He  was 
now  going  to  send  a  letter  to  Viteau,  but  under 
what  strange  circumstances  it  would  be  written !  If 
he  were  at  the  castle,  Agnes  would  help  him.  He 
wished  he  had  thought  of  asking  her,  weeks  ago, 
to   help   him. 

"  I  have  written  a  letter  myself,"  said  Jasto,  "  but 
before  I  had  written  it  I  trembled  to  say  I  could 
do  it.  And  I  was  a  grown  man,  and  had  fought 
in  three  battles.  But  pages  are  bolder  than  soldiers. 
Would   you    like   to   hear   about   my  letter  ? " 

"  Indeed  I  should,"  said  Louis,  anxious  to  listen 
to  anything  which  might  give  him  a  helping  hint 
regarding  the   duty  he   had   taken    upon    himself. 

"Well,  then,"  said  Jasto,  stretching  out  his  legs, 
"  I   shall  tell  you  about  my  letter.     It  was  just  before 

"  Jasto ! "  rang  out  a  voice  from  the  opposite  side 
of  the   inclosure   formed   by  the  huts. 

"  There  !  "  cried   Jasto,  jumping   to    his    feet,    "  that 


44  THE   STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

is  the  Captain.  I  must  go.  But  you  sit  still,  just 
where  you  are,  and  when  I  come  back,  which  will 
be   shortly,  I   shall   tell   you   about  my  letter." 


CHAPTER    V. 

WE  must  now  go  back  to  the  Chateau  de  Viteau, 
and  see  what  has  happened  there  since  the 
departure  of  Louis  for  his  new  home.  Of  course, 
the  boy  was  greatly  missed  by  his  mother  and  brother, 
but  Raymond  soon  found  himself  so  busy  that  he 
had  not  time  enough  to  grieve  very  much  over  the 
absence  of  his  old  playmate.  In  order  to  prepare 
himself  for  the  school  at  Paris  he  was  obliged  to 
study  diligently,  and  in  order  that  he  might  make  a 
good  appearance  at  the  house  of  his  cousin,  with 
whom  he  was  to  live,  Bernard  insisted  on  his  em- 
ploying nearly  all  his  leisure  time  in  out-door  exer- 
cises and  knightly  accomplishments.  Hawking  was 
postponed  for  the  present,  for,  after  the  loss  of  Ray- 
mond's falcon  was  discovered,  Bernard  declared  that 
he   had   not   the   heart  to   train   another   one  immedi- 

45 


46  THE  STORY  OF  VITEAU. 

ately,  even   if  a   good   bird   could  be   easily  obtained, 
which   was   not  the   case. 

Very  little  was  said  about  the  disappearance  of 
the  falcon.  Raymond,  his  mother,  and  the  squire 
each  had  a  suspicion  that  Louis  had  had  something 
to  do  with  it;  but  no  one  of  them  mentioned  it  to 
either  of  the  others.  Each  hoped  the  suspicion  was 
unfounded,  and   therefore   said   nothing  about    it. 

While  Raymond  was  busy  with  his  studies  and  his 
manly  exercises,  the  mind  of  Bernard,  even  while 
giving  the  boy  the  benefit  of  his  knowledge  of  the 
management  of  horses  and  the  use  of  arms,  was 
occupied   with   a   very  serious   matter. 

As  has  been  said  before,  the  Countess  of  Viteau 
was  one  of  the  very  few  ladies  in  France  who  was 
fairly  educated,  and  who  took  an  interest  in  acquiring 
knowledge  from  books.  This  disposition,  so  unusual 
at  that  time,  together  with  her  well-known  efforts  to 
have  her  sons  educated,  even  giving  a  helping  hand 
herself  whenever  she  found  that  she  was  qualified  to 
do  so,  had  attracted  attention  to  her,  and  many 
people  began  to  talk  about  her,  as  a  woman  who 
gave  a  great  deal  of  time  to  useless  pursuits.  Why 
should  a  lady  of  her  rank — these  people  said — 
wish  to  read  books  and  study  out  the  meaning  of 
old  manuscripts,  as  if  she  were  of  no  higher  station 
than    a  poor   monk?     If  there   were   anything   in  the 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  47 

books  and  parchments  which  she  ought  to  know, 
the   priests   would   tell   her   all   about   it. 

But  the  Countess  thought  differently,  and  she  kept 
on  with  her  reading,  which  was  almost  entirely  con- 
fined to  religious  works,  and  in  this  way  she  grad- 
ually formed  some  ideas  about  religious  matters  which 
were  somewhat  different  from  those  taught  at  that 
time  by  the  Church  of  Rome,  or,  at  least,  from  those 
taught  by  the  priests  about  her.  She  saw  no  harm 
in  her  opinions,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  speak  of 
them  to  the  priests  who  came  to  the  chateau  from 
a  neighboring  monastery,  and  even  to  argue  in  favor 
of  them. 

The  priests,  however,  did  see  harm  in  the  ideas 
of  the  Countess,  simply  because,  in  those  days,  people 
had  very  narrow  and  bigoted  ways  of  thinking  in 
regard  to  religious  affairs,  and  it  was  generally 
thought  that  any  person  having  an  opinion  differing, 
even  very  little,  from  what  was  taught  by  the  monks 
and  priests,  was  doing  a  wicked  thing  to  persist  in 
such  an  opinion  after   he  had  been  told  it  was  wrong. 

For  this  reason,  when  the  priests  who  had  charge 
of  the  religious  services  at  Viteau  found  that  their 
arguments  made  no  impression  on  the  Countess, 
who  was  able  to  answer  them  back  in  such  a  way 
that  they  could  find  nothing  more  to  say  on  their 
side   of  the  question,  they  reported  the  state  of  affairs 


48  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

to  some  of  the  higher  officers  of  the  Church,  and, 
in  due  time,  a  man  was  sent  to  Viteau  to  find  out 
exactly  what  its  mistress  did  think,  and  why  she 
was   so   wicked   as   to   think   it. 

The  person  who  was  sent  was  the  Dominican 
monk,  Brother  Anselmo,  who  was  met  by  the  two 
boys  and  Bernard,  on  the  occasion  when  we  first 
made  their  acquaintance.  Brother  Anselmo  was  a 
quiet-spoken  man,  making  no  pretensions  to  author- 
ity or  to  superior  knowledge;  and  the  Countess 
talked  with  him  and  answered  his  questions  freely 
and  unsuspectingly.  She  knew  he  was  a  Dominican, 
and  she  knew  he  had  come  to  the  neighborhood 
of  Viteau  on  purpose  to  talk  with  her  on  certain 
religious  subjects ;  but  this  did  not  surprise  her,  as 
she  supposed  all  good  people  were  just  as  much 
interested  in  these  subjects  as  she  was;  but  she 
had  no  idea  that  he  was  connected  with  the  Inqui- 
sition at  Toulouse. 

Bernard,  the  squire,  however,  knew  well  who  he 
was,  and   it  troubled   him   greatly  to   know   it. 

Some  weeks  after  the  Dominican  had  begun  to 
make  his  almost  daily  visits  to  Viteau,  he  came, 
one  day,  accompanied  by  another  monk,  who  did  not 
enter  the  grounds,  but  who  remained  outside  the 
little   gate,  waiting   for   his   companion   to   return. 

Bernard    noticed    the    monk    waiting    outside,   and 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  49 

thinking  that  this  unusual  occurrence  had  something 
suspicious  about  it,  he  followed  Brother  Anselmo 
when  he  left  the  chateau,  and,  as  he  rejoined  his 
fellow  monk,  the  squire  slipped  quietly  up  to  the 
wall  and  listened  to  what  they  said  to  each  other. 
In  this  case,  Bernard  did  not  consider  that  he  was 
doing  a  very  improper  thing.  He  feared  that  danger 
threatened  the  household  of  Viteau,  and  that  these 
two  monks  were  the  persons  through  whom  the 
evil  would  come.  Therefore,  he  believed  that  it  was 
his  duty  to  employ  every  possible  means  of  averting 
this   danger ;    and   he   listened   with   all  his   ears. 

What  he  heard  was  very  little.  The  two  monks 
stood  silent  a  few  moments,  and  then  the  one  who 
had  been  waiting  said  something  in  a  low  voice, 
which  Bernard  could  not  hear.  To  this  Brother 
Anselmo  answered :  "  We  have  done  all  we  can.  I 
think  it  is  a  case  for  the  Holy  Inquisition." 
And  then  the  two  walked  off  together. 
Bernard  now  knew  that  his  fears  were  correct. 
His  beloved  mistress,  on  account  of  some  of  her 
religious  opinions,  was  in  danger  of  being  carried 
a  prisoner  to  Toulouse,  there  to  be  tried  before  the 
officers  of  the  Inquisition.  He  had  no  doubt  that 
her  opinions,  whatever  they  were,  were  entirely  cor- 
rect, for  he  had  a  great  respect  for  her  religious 
knowledge,  and    he   felt   sure   she    knew    more    than 

3 


50  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

the  monks  who  came  to  the  chateau,  but  he  well 
understood  that,  if  she  should  be  put  on  trial,  and 
if  the  doctrines  she  believed  to  be  true  were  found 
to  differ,  in  the  least  point,  from  those  taught  by 
the  priests,  she  would  be  considered  guilty  of  heresy, 
and   perhaps   be  put  to   death. 

The  squire  went  away  from  the  wall  a  very  sad 
man.  He  was  certain  that  no  one  at  the  chateau 
but  himself  knew  of  the  danger  of  its  mistress,  and 
he  felt  that  it  rested  on  him  to  take  some  imme- 
diate  steps   to   save   her,  if  that  were  possible. 

As  he  approached  the  house,  Bernard  met  Ray- 
mond, who  was  coming  to  take  some  lessons  from 
him  in  the  use  of  the  long  sword.  The  good  squire 
never  threw  so  much  energy  and  good-will  into  his 
lessons   as   he   did   that   day. 

"  If  he  has  to  fight  for  his  mother,"  he  said  to 
himself,  "  I  want  him   to   fight   well." 


CHAPTER    VI. 

FOR  some  days  after  the  departure  of  Louis  for 
his  mother's  chateau,  none  of  his  friends  had  the 
least  idea  of  his  unfortunate  situation.  At  the  castle 
it  was  supposed  that  he  was  overstaying  his  time 
with  his  family,  and  at  Viteau  no  one  knew  that 
he  had  left  the  castle.  At  last,  Barran,  somewhat 
provoked  that  the  boy  should  so  deliberately  disobey 
his  orders, — for  he  had  told  him  to  return  promptly, 
— and  knowing  that  his  mother  could  always  furnish 
him  an  escort,  sent  messengers  to  Viteau,  demanding 
that  Louis  should  immediately  come  back  with  them. 
This,  of  course,  caused  great  consternation  at  the 
chateau,  and  the  messengers  went  hurriedly  home, 
accompanied  by  Raymond,  to  tell  the  news  that 
Louis  had  not  yet  been  seen  at  his  mother's  house. 
The     Countess    wished     Bernard    to    go    with    the 

51 


52  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

messengers,  but  this  he  refused  to  do,  urging  that 
his  place  could  be  nowhere  else  than  at  Viteau, 
and  that  Raymond  could  confer  as  well  as  any  one 
else  with  Barran,  regarding  the  immediate  steps 
which  should  be  taken  to  find  out  what  had  become 
of  Louis,  and  to  rescue  him  from  any  danger  he 
might   have   fallen   into. 

The  Countess  spent  the  time,  during  Raymond's 
absence,  in  tears  and  prayers.  When  he  returned, 
there  came  with  him  a  small  troop  of  well-armed 
men,  which  Barran  had  sent  to  press  on,  as  rapidly 
as  possible,  to  the  estates  of  the  knight  from  the 
South,  for  it  had  been  thought  very  likely  that  this 
knight  had  been  prevented  in  some  way  from  stop- 
ping at  Viteau,  and  that  he  had  taken  Louis  on 
with  him,  intending  to  send  him  back  at  some  con- 
venient opportunity.  That  the  boy  should  have  been 
lost,  in  any  way,  from  the  company  of  the  southern 
knight,  Barran    did   not   consider   possible. 

This  belief  of  a  man  so  sensible  as  Barran  par- 
tially comforted  the  Countess ;  but  when  the  troop 
returned,  and  told  how  Louis  had  left  the  knight's 
company  to  ride  on  by  himself,  as  none  could  doubt, 
to  his  mother's  house,  the  poor  lady  was  completely 
overwhelmed  with  grief,  and  thus  she  remained  until 
Barran  arrived  at  Viteau,  for  which  place  he  started 
as   soon   as  he   heard  the   news. 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  53 

Vigorous  measures  were  now  taken  for  a  search 
after  Louis.  It  was  generally  agreed  that  he  must 
have  been  captured  by  robbers,  for  there  was  no 
other  danger  which  was  likely  to  befall  him  on  the 
road;  but  what  robbers  had  taken  him,  and  to  what 
place  they  had  conveyed  him,  were  questions  not 
easy  to  answer.  That  a  band  of  cotereaux  might 
then  be  in  the  forest,  within  ten  or  fifteen  miles  of 
Viteau,  was  not  at  all  improbable;  but  to  find  out 
their  hiding-place,  and,  also,  to  find  them  in  it,  would 
certainly  be  difficult  tasks.  The  forests  of  that  time 
spread  over  such  a  vast  extent  of  country,  and  were 
so  dense,  and  in  many  places  so  apparently  pathless, 
that^  to  find  anything  so  carefully  hidden  as  a  rob- 
ber's camp  would  be  a  matter  almost  as  much  of 
chance   as   of  skill   and   design. 

Barran  privately  declared  that,  if  it  were  not  for 
the  Countess,  who  seemed  almost  overcome  with 
grief,  he  would  quietly  wait  a  few  days  before 
attempting  to  penetrate  the  forest  with  any  force ; 
for  he  was  sure  that,  if  the  boy  had  been  captured 
by  cotereaux,  their  only  object  was  to  get  a  ransom 
for  him,  and  that  they  would  soon  be  heard  from. 
Under  the  circumstances,  however,  Count  de  Barran 
saw  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  take  immediate 
action,  and  Bernard  was  very  active  in  pushing 
forward   the   most   warlike   preparations. 


54  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

Some  of  these  appeared  almost  ridiculous  to  the 
Count. 

"  How  now,  Squire  ?  "  he  said.  "  One  might  think 
that  we  expected  the  rascals  to  attack  this  chateau, 
and  carry  off  the  other  boy.  By  the  plans  you  lay, 
there  will  be  more  cross-bows  and  lances  left  at 
Viteau   than   we   shall  carry  with    us    into  the  forest." 

"  I  should  not  leave  the  Countess  defenseless,  good 
Sir   Count,"  replied   the   squire. 

"  I  know  you  are  a  good  man  and  a  brave  soldier, 
Bernard,"  said  Barran,  "  and  as  much  to  be  trusted, 
in  peace  or  war,  as  many  a  knight  of  good  renown ; 
but  this  is  something  too  prudent.  In  these  times 
the  cotereaux  do  not  come  out  of  their  holes  to  our 
chateaux   and   castles   to   carry  us  away. 

Bernard  hesitated  before  making  answer  to  this 
speech.  He  had  intended  informing  Barran  of  his 
recent  discoveries  in  regard  to  the  visits  of  the 
Dominican  monk,  but  he  had  not  thought  it  well  to 
speak  of  the  matter  now,  when  the  minds  of  every 
one  were  so  occupied  with  the  present  great  trouble. 
However,  he  knew  that  it  would  be  necessary  to 
give  the  reasons  for  the  peculiar  measures  he  advo- 
cated, and   so   he   said,  in  a  low  but  impressive  tone: 

"  No,  good  Sir  Count,  the  cotereaux  do  not  come 
to  our  houses  to  carry  us  away,  but  the  officers  of 
the   Holy   Inquisition   do." 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  55 

"  What  means  that  ? "  cried  Barran,  turning  pale ; 
and  then,  on  a  warning  signal  from  the  squire,  he 
lowered  his  voice  and  continued  :  "  Has  the  Countess 
brought  upon  herself  the  censure  of  the  priests,  by 
her  strange  ideas  about  the  saints  ?  I  have  heard 
of  them.     Tell  me   quickly,  is  that  what  you  mean?" 

The   squire   bowed   his   head. 

"  This  is,  indeed,  grievous,"  said  Barran ;  but,  surely, 
we  need  have  no  great  fears.  Tell  me,  quickly, 
what   has  happened  ?  " 

Then  Bernard  told  all  that  he  feared  and  all  that 
he  had   heard. 

Barran  was  not  easily  frightened.  Indeed,  he  was 
too  apt  to  sneer  at  things  which  other  people  con- 
sidered dangerous;  but  this  was  such  a  very  serious 
matter  that  it  caused  him  great  anxiety  and  even 
fear,  when  he  heard  of  the  peril  to  which  the  wife 
of  his   dear   old   friend   was   likely  to  be   exposed. 

"This  must  not  be  allowed,"  he  said.  "We  can 
not  suffer  that  gentle  lady  to  be  taken  from  us  by 
the  Inquisition.  Even  if  she  should  be  found 
entirely  innocent,  which  is  not  likely,  the  trial  itself 
is  something  I  cannot  think  of  for  a  moment.  And 
yet  what  is  to  be  done?  We  can  not  fight  the 
Church." 

"No,  Sir  Count,"  said  Bernard,  "but  I  shall  be 
here,  with   all  the  force   of   men  and  arms  that  I  can 


56  THE  STORY  OF   VITBAU. 

bring  together,  to  defend  my  lady,  and  if  the  Church 
fights   me,  I   shall   do  my  best  battle." 

"  And  you  shall  not  do  battle  alone,  my  good 
Bernard,"  said  Barran ;  "but  it  may  be  that  we 
shall  find  some  better  way  to  avert  the  evil  than 
by  force  of  arms,  which,  indeed,  would  amount  to 
very  little,  I  fear  me,  in  the  end.  But  now  we  must 
give  our  hearts  and  hands  to  the  finding  of  this 
poor,  foolish   boy." 

Bernard  was  perfectly  willing  to  give  his  heart  to 
the  finding  of  Louis,  but  he  would  not  give  his 
hand.  Nothing  could  induce  him  to  leave  the 
chateau,  where  he  insisted  upon  being  left  with  a 
moderate   force   of  well-armed   men. 

Barran,  with  several  knights  from  his  castle,  for 
whom  he  had  sent  when  he  found  that  there  would, 
probably,  be  more  work  to  be  done  than  he  had  at 
first  anticipated,  set  out  as  soon  as  possible,  at  the 
head  of  a  large  body  of  followers,  some  of  whom 
were  expert  in  all  kinds  of  wood-craft,  and  as 
capable  as  any  men  could  be  of  finding  out  the 
paths  of  beasts  or  human  beings  in  the  depths  of 
the   woods. 

The  party  quickly  made  its  way  along  the  road 
down  which  Louis  must  have  ridden ;  and,  a  few 
miles  below  the  place  where  the  road  forked,  turned 
into   the  woods,  to   the  west,  and  made  careful  search 


THE  STORY    OF    VITEAU.  57 

for  paths,  or  any  traces  of  the  passage  of  men 
through  the  undergrowth.  Several  well-marked  paths 
were  soon  discovered,  and  along  the  most  promising 
of  these  Barran  and  his  men  pushed  their  way, 
sometimes  separating,  in  various  directions,  and  then 
coming  together  again,  until  they  had  penetrated  far 
into   the   forest. 

Unfortunately  for  the  success  of  their  search,  the 
camp  of  the  cotereaux  was  in  the  woods  to  the 
east  of  the  road.  To  be  sure,  the  forest,  in  every 
direction,  would  be  searched  in  time,  but  if  the 
Count's  party  should  keep  on  in  the  way  it  was 
going,  it  would  be  long  before  it  could  find  the  huts 
of  Captain    Michol. 

Raymond  stayed  at  the  chateau  with  his  mother. 
He  much  wished  to  join  the  Count's  party  in  the 
search  for  his  brother,  but  Barran  told  him  that  it 
was  his  duty  to  try  to  comfort  and  console  the 
Countess  until  Louis  should  be  brought  back,  and, 
therefore,  Raymond  reluctantly  remained  at  Viteau. 
He  loved  his  mother,  and  was  always  willing  to  do 
anything  that  would  please  or  benefit  her,  but,  in 
this  case,  he  thought  that  she,  being  safe  at  home, 
did  not  need  him  nearly  so  much  as  his  poor 
brother,  who  probably  was  suffering  in  captivity,  no 
one   knew   where. 

On    the    evening    of    the    second     day    after    the 


58  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

departure  of  the  searching  party,  Raymond  came 
down  into  the  grounds  of  the  chateau.  His 
mother  was  asleep,  and  he  came  out  for  a  little 
exercise. 

Not  far   from   the   house   he   met  the   squire. 

"  Bernard,"  said  Raymond,  "  I  think  it  is  a  foolish 
thing  for  you  and  me  and  all  these  men  to  be 
idling  here.  We  might  leave  my  mother  with  her 
ladies,  and  a  man  or  two,  and  go,  the  rest  of  us, 
to   help   scour   the  woods   to   find   dear   Louis." 

Just  at  this  moment,  and  before  Bernard  could 
answer  him,  Raymond  saw,  coming  up  from  the 
lower  part  of  the  grounds,  the  Dominican  monk, 
Brother    Anselmo. 

"  What  does  that  man  want,  Bernard  ?  "  he  exclaimed. 
"  There  have  been  two  priests  here  to-day,  to  con- 
sole my  mother  in  her  affliction,  and  I  do  not  think 
another  one  is  needed  now,  especially  not  this  man, 
who  does  not  belong  to  our  monastery  and  who 
keeps  himself  a  stranger  to  me.  My  mother  is 
asleep,  and   should   not   be  disturbed." 

"  If  she  is  asleep,"  said  the  squire,  "  she  shall  not 
be    disturbed." 

He  then  walked  back  to  the  house,  closely  fol- 
lowed by  Raymond,  and  stood  in  the  entrance  door. 
In  a  few  moments  the  monk  appeared,  and  with  a 
slight  motion   of  the   head,  but   not  a  word,  stepped 


THE   STORY  OF   VITEAU.  59 

forward  to  pass  in.  But  the  squire  stood  stoutly 
before   him,  and   stopped    him. 

"My  lady,  the  Countess,"  he  said,  "is  weary  and 
sick  at  heart  on  account  of  the  loss  of  her  young 
son.     She  is  sleeping  now  and  can  not  be  disturbed." 

"  If  she  is  sick  at  heart,"  said  Brother  Anselmo, 
"that   is   the   greater    reason   why  I   should   see  her." 

"  It  can  not  be,"  said  Bernard.  "  She  needs  rest, 
and   no   one   must   disquiet   her." 

"What  right  have  you,  Squire  Bernard,"  said  the 
monk,  "to  forbid  my  entrance?  Are  you  the  master 
of  this   house  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Raymond,  stepping  forward,  "  but  I 
am,  when  my  mother  can  not  act  as  its  mistress, 
and  I  say  that  no  one  shall  disturb  her  this  night. 
Two  priests  have  been  here  to-day,  and  I  know  she 
expects   no    others." 

"  Boy,"  said  Brother  Anselmo,  "  stand  aside !  You 
should  be  chastised  for  such  presumptuous  words; 
and  as  for  you,  Squire,  I  command  you,  in  the  name 
of  the   Church,  to   let  me   pass." 

"  I  honor  the  Church  as  much  as  any  man,"  said 
Bernard,  "but  I  do  not  believe  that  she  grants  to 
her  priests  the  right  to  ask  what  they  please,  in  her 
name.  I  might  come  to  be  asked  for  my  purse,  in 
the  name  of  the  Church ;  and  that  I  would  not 
give   up,  any  more   than    I    shall    give    up    my   right 


60  THE  STORY  OF  VITEAU. 

to  protect  my  mistress,  the  Countess,  in  this,  her 
first   hour  of  sleep    and    rest   for   many  days." 

Brother  Anselmo  was  very  angry.  Shaking  his 
fist  at  the  sturdy  squire,  he   cried : 

"  Stupid  blunderer !  You  shall  see,  and  that  right 
soon,  what  power  the  Church  gives  me."  And  then, 
without  another  word,  he  turned  and  walked  rapidly 
away. 

"  What  does  he  mean  ?  "  asked  Raymond.  I  greatly 
dislike  that  monk.  He  is  always  asking  my  mother 
questions   which   trouble   her   much    to   answer." 

Bernard  made  no  reply,  but  stood  for  a  moment 
in  deep  thought.  Then  he  said  to  himself:  "An 
hour  to  the  monastery,  and  an  hour  back.  There 
is  yet  time,  and  the  plan  I  think  of  will  be  the 
better  one.  I  can  not  trust  the  men  to  stand  against 
the  priests.  Raymond!  Run  now,  and  have  your 
horse  saddled  and  bridled,  and  ride  out  of  the  upper 
gate,  and   wait   for   me   in   the   road." 

"Why  so?"  cried  Raymond,  in  surprise.  It  is 
too    late   for   exercises." 

"  I  can  not  answer  now,"  said  Bernard,  hurrying 
away.     "  Be   speedy  and   I  will  tell  you  on  the  road." 

Raymond,  much  amazed,  but  feeling  quite  sure 
that  the  squire  had  some  good  reason  for  this 
strange  proceeding,  ran  to  get  his  horse,  while  Ber- 
nard    ordered     the     men-at-arms     to     hastily     equip 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  6 1 

themselves  for  an  expedition,  and  to  gather  together, 
mounted,  inside  the  north  gate.  Then  he  went 
upstairs  to  the  apartments  of  the  Countess,  and 
asked  to  speak  with  one  of  her  ladies.  The 
Countess,  who  was  only  lightly  dozing  on  a  couch, 
heard  the  squire's  voice,  and,  instantly  rising,  called 
to    him   to   know   what   news    he   brought. 

Bernard  advanced  within  the  door-way,  and  in  a 
hurried  voice  told  his  lady  that  the  news  he  brought 
was  of  great  import,  but  that  he  must  tell  it  to  her 
alone.  The  Countess  then  desired  the  ladies  who 
were  with  her  to  retire  to  another  room,  and  the 
squire,  in  as  few  words  as  possible,  but  very  ear- 
nestly and  forcibly,  told  her  of  her  great  danger,  of 
the  threats  of  the  Dominican  monk,  and  of  the  fact 
that  he  had  heard,  that  day,  of  the  arrival  of  a  body 
of  men,  well-armed,  at   the    neighboring   monastery. 

"  In  an  hour  or  so,"  he  said,  "  these  men  will  be 
here,  I  greatly  fear  me.  Raymond  is  already  on  the 
road,  for  I  wished  to  spare  him  this  wretched  story, 
and,  if  we  do  not  start  quickly  for  Barran's  castle, 
where  you  will  find  present  safety,  it  may  happen 
that  weeks  and  months  may  pass  before  you  will 
have  news  of  Louis,  even  if  he  should  be  found 
to-morrow." 

"You  mean  that  I  may  not  be  here  to  meet  the 
news?"    the   lady  said. 


62  THE   STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

Bernard  bowed  his  head.  The  Countess  did  not 
hesitate,  but   came   to   a  decision    at  once. 

"I  shall  be  ready,"  she  said,  "in  a  very  short 
time.  Have  horses  prepared  for  myself  and  my 
three  ladies.  We  must  hasten  to  Raymond,  if  he 
be   alone   on   the   road." 

She  then  called  her  ladies,  and  began  to  make 
rapid   preparations    for   the  journey. 

The  horses  were  scarcely  ready  when  the  ladies 
made  their  appearance  in  the  court,  and,  in  a  few 
minutes,  accompanied  by  Bernard  and  the  men-at- 
arms,  they  rode  out  of  the  north  gate.  An  elderly 
man,  who  acted  as  seneschal,  or  keeper  of  the  estab- 
lishment, was  left,  with  the  ordinary  servants  and 
vassals,  in    charge   of  the    chateau. 

Raymond,  riding  slowly  up  and  down  the  road, 
was  soon  overtaken,  and  then  the  squire,  without 
entering  into  explanations,  urged  his  party  onward  as 
swiftly  as   possible. 

"What  is  the  meaning  of  all  this?"  cried  Ray- 
mond, in  great  perplexity,  riding  up  to  his  mother. 
"  It  is  stranger  than  any  of  the  old  tales  the  women 
used   to   tell   me." 

The  Countess  was  a  lady  of  strong  mind  and 
body,  and  although  the  unknown  fate  of  her 
younger  son  had  overwhelmed  her  with  grief,  this 
new     peril     to     her     whole     family    had     thoroughly 


THE  STORY  OF  VITEAU.  63 

aroused  her,  and  she  was  riding  steadily  and  swiftly 
onward. 

"  It  is  a  strange  tale,"  she  said — "  stranger  far  than 
any  I  thought  would  ever  be  told  in  this  fair  land ; 
but  I  can  not  tell  it  to  you,  my  boy,  until  our 
journey's   end.      Then   you    shall   hear   it   all." 

So  Raymond,  with  the  rest,  rode  on,  and  he,  with 
all  the  others,  excepting  the  squire  and  his  mother, 
supposed  that  this  long  night-ride  had  something  to 
do   with   the   rescue   of  Louis. 


CHAPTER    VIS. 

LOUIS  sat  for  a  long  time,  in  the  bit  of  shade 
by  the  tree,  before  Jasto  returned ;  but,  when 
that  learned  man  at  last  made  his  appearance,  he 
merely  remarked  that  the  Captain  had  kept  him 
longer  than  he  had  supposed  he  would,  and,  after 
that,  he  had  to  look  for  a  quill,  of  which  to  make 
a  pen. 

"  It  is  not  an  easy  thing  to  get  the  right  kind  of 
quill  for  a  pen,  you  must  know,"  he  said,  as  he  took 
his  seat  by  Louis,  and  began  to  scrape  the  lower 
end  of  a  long  quill  with  a  broad,  sharp  knife  which 
he  took  from  his  belt.  "  A  crow-quill  will  do  very 
well,  or  even  a  quill  from  a  hawk ;  but  I  like  a 
long  one,  like  this,  which  came  from  a  heron's  wing, 
nailed  up  in  one  of  our  houses.  And  he  who 
nailed   it   up    never   dreamed   of    the    benefit    that    a 

64 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  65 

quill  from  that  wing  would  bring  to  our  good 
company." 

"What  benefit?"  asked   Louis. 

"The  benefit  that  comes  from  the  money  your 
mother   will  send   us   when    she   reads   your   letter." 

"Oh!"    said   Louis. 

"  And  while  I  make  this  pen,"  continued  his 
companion,   "  I  shall   tell  you  the  story  of  my  letter." 

"  Yes,  indeed,"  cried  Louis ;  "  I  should  rather  have 
that   than   the   pen — at   least,  just   now." 

"  That  is  a  bad  choice,  for  the  pen  is  to  give  you 
liberty,  and  the  story  will  not  do  that.  However, 
there  is  a  lesson  in  the  story,  and  you  shall  have 
it.  It  was  just  before  one  of  the  battles  between 
Queen  Blanche  and  the  Duke  of  Burgundy.  I  was 
a  soldier  then,  in  the  service  of  a  good  knight ; 
and  although  I  was  not  his  squire,  but  a  simple 
man-at-arms,  ready  to  fight  on  horse  or  on  foot,  or 
not  to  fight  at  all,  just  as  the  case  might  be,  still 
I  was  a  better  man  than  the  squire — for  he  could 
not  write,  any  more  than  his  master  could.  So,  just 
before  the  battle,  the  knight  sent  for  me,  and,  said 
he,  'Jasto,  I  have  heard  that  you  are  a  wise  fellow 
and  can  write,  and  I  want  you  to  write  me  a  letter.' 
He  knew  I  could  write,  because  I  had  told  him  so, 
and  had  told  all  my  companions  so,  for  this  I  found 
I   must   do,  otherwise   they  would   never  be  aware  of 


66  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

it ;  for,  not  knowing  how  to  write  themselves,  how 
could  they  comprehend  that  I  knew  ?  '  I  want  to 
send  a  messenger  back  to  my  castle,'  said  my  good 
knight,  '  and  I  want  him  to  carry  a  straight  and 
fair  message,  which  he  can  not  do  if  I  send  it  by 
word  of  mouth.  So  you  must  write  what  I  wish 
to  say  in  a  letter  to  my  seneschal,  and  the  messenger 
shall  carry  it.'  With  that,  he  showed  me  a  little 
piece  of  parchment  that  he  had  with  him,  and  a 
phial  of  ink  and  a  pen,  and  he  bade  me  sit  down 
and  write  what  he  told  me  to  say.  I  liked  not 
this  haste,  which  gave  me  no  time  for  study  and 
preparation,  and  I  told  him,  with  due  respect,  that  I 
could  not  write  unless  I  had  a  table  on  which  to 
lay  my  parchment.  Whereupon  he  made  a  man 
with  a  cuirass  get  down  on  all-fours  before  me,  so 
that  on  this  man's  steel  back  I  could  write  as  on 
a  table.  My  master  then  told  me  to  write  how 
that,  knowing  the  enemy  would  soon  reach  the  spot 
where  we  then  lay,  and  feeling  the  want  of  a 
stronger  force,  he  desired  his  seneschal  to  send  him 
five  more  men,  and  five  horses,  with  arms  and  all 
things  needful,  and  also  to  send  therewith  a  new 
casque  which  he  expected  from  the  armorer,  and  a 
long  sword  which  hung  up  in  the  great  hall,  and 
divers  other  things,  of  which  I  wot  not  now.  When 
I   came   to  write  down  all  this,  I  found  myself  sorely 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  6j 

troubled,  for  you  must  know  that  to  write  a  letter 
requires  a  knowledge  of  many  things.  One  must 
know  what  letters  are  needed  for  a  word,  what 
order   to   put  them   in,  and   how   to   make   them. 

"  Some  words  need  a  good  many  letters,  and  if 
the  letters  in  a  word  are  not  the  right  letters,  and 
are  not  set  in  a  befitting  order,  it  will  be  of  no 
use  for  any  man,  even  the  most  learned  scholar,  to 
try  to  tell  what  that  word  is.  So  I  soon  found 
that  for  many  of  the  words  I  could  not  remember 
the  letters,  and  of  those  letters  I  did  remember  there 
were  some  that  I  could  not  make,  for  I  had  forgot- 
ten their  shape.  But  I  would  not  tell  my  master 
that,  for  it  would  have  been  a  sorrowful  thing  to 
have  fallen  from  my  high  place  as  the  most  learned 
person  in  our  company,  not  to  speak  of  the  punish- 
ment I  might  have  expected.  So  I  wrote  on, 
making  the  best  words  I  could  devise  with  the 
letters  at  my  command,  and  urging  my  master  to 
repeat  every  sentence,  so  that  I  should  be  sure  to 
get  it  straight  and  fair ;  and  in  that  way  I  learned 
the  whole  letter  by  heart,  and  read  it  to  him,  when 
I  had  finished  it,  so  that  he  was  greatly  gratified. 
1  Let  me  see  the  letter,  my  good  Jasto,'  said  he;  and 
when  he  looked  at  it,  he  said,  '  The  words  seem 
very  much  like  each  other ' — which  was  the  truth, 
indeed,  for   most   of   them   had    the    same     letters    in 


68  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

them,  measured  out  in  very  much  the  same  meas- 
urement. '  But  it  all  looks  simple  enough,'  he  went 
on  to  say,  'and  I  greatly  desire  that  I  could  read 
it,  but  that  is  beyond  my  powers.'  And  then  he 
made  his  mark,  which  his  seneschal  well  knew,  and 
the   letter   was    done. 

"Thereupon  he  called  for  a  messenger  to  take  it 
in  all  haste  to  his  castle,  but  I  told  him  that  he 
could  have  no  better  messenger  than  I  should  be, 
because,  having  writ  the  letter,  I  could  read  it  to  the 
person  to  whom  it  was  sent,  if  it  should  so  be 
that  he  could  not  read  it  himself.  'But  old  Hubert 
can  read,  else  I  would  not  send  him  a  letter,'  said 
my  lord.  But  I  answered  that,  if  he  had  never 
seen  my  writing,  it  might  be  so  strange  to  him  {hat 
it  would  take  much  time  for  him  to  understand  the 
proper  slope  and  indication  of  the  letters,  and  so 
the  re-enforcements  might  be  sorely  hindered  in  their 
coming.  Therefore  it  was  that  I  was  sent,  and  I 
so  saved  my  life;  for,  shortly  after,  the  battle  came 
off,  and,  if  I  had  been  there,  I  know  I  should  have 
been  killed,  as  most  of  my  knight's  men  were.  But 
I  was  safe  in  the  castle,  and  when  I  went  back 
with  the  men  and  the  horses  and  the  armor,  I  met 
my  lord  coming  to  his  castle,  and  right  glad  was 
he  to  see  me  with  my  company,  for  he  was  in  such 
sore     plight    that    he     was    even    afraid     of    thieves, 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  69 

although  there  were  but  few  of  them  to  be  met 
with  then,  being  mostly  in  the  wars.  And  therefore, 
I,  being  fresh  and  unwounded,  took  the  lead  among 
the  men-at-arms,  and  felt  high  in  my  lord's  favor, 
and  this  was  far  better  than  being  able  to  scratch 
off  a   poor  letter   that   could   be   read." 

"  But  what  said  the  seneschal  to  your  letter  ?" 
asked    Louis. 

"  Oh,  nought  at  all,"  answered  Jasto.  "  I  read  it 
to  him  out  of  my  head,  and  showed  him  his  master's 
mark." 

"  But  did  you  not  feel,  all  the  time,  that  you  were 
a  great  trickster  and  cheat  ? "  said  the  free-spoken 
Louis. 

"  No  more  than  I  do  now,"  answered  Jasto, 
"  coming  here  to  help  you  with  your  letter  to  your 
mother,  and  telling  you  a  story  with  a  moral  to  it, 
showing  how  arduous  a  thing  it  is  to  write  a 
letter,  so  that  you  may  be  ready  for  your  difficulties 
when  they  come  upon  you.  And  now  this  pen  is 
done,  and  it  ought  to  be,  for  I  have  put  a  score 
of  nibs  to  it,  and  there  is  not  enough  quill  left  for 
another  one.  It  may  be  blunt,  but  it  will  make  a 
mark." 

"  And   what   am   I   to   write  on  ? "    asked    Louis. 

"  I'll  find  that  and  the  ink  this  afternoon,"  said 
Jasto,  "but   now   I    smell    dinner.''' 


JO  THE   STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

In  the  afternoon,  Jasto  mixed  up  a  black  com- 
pound with  some  water,  so  as  to  make  an  ink, — 
rather  thick  and  gritty,  to  be  sure,  but  good  enough 
for  its  purpose, — and  he  produced  a  piece  of  parch- 
ment, completely  written  over  on  one  side.  This 
writing  he  proceeded  to  obliterate,  as  far  as  possible, 
by  rubbing   it   with    a   piece    of  pumice-stone. 

Louis  was  impatient,  and  suggested  that  he  might 
mark  out  the  words  on  one  side  and  go  on  writing 
on  the  other ;  but  Jasto  would  not  hear  to  this, 
for  it  would  argue  too  great  poverty  on  the  part 
of  the  cotereaux  to  send  a  letter  on  the  back 
of  another,  and  so  he  rubbed  and  rubbed,  and 
talked,  and  came  and  went,  until  it  was  nearly 
dark,  and  so  the  letter  was  postponed  until  the 
next   day. 

On  the  morrow,  however,  Jasto  refused  to  produce 
the  writing  materials,  because  there  was  to  be  a 
grand  expedition  of  the  band,  which  would  require 
nearly  all  the  men;  and  Michol  had  said  that  Louis 
must  be  taken  along,  as  he  did  not  wish  to  leave 
him  behind,  guarded  only  by  the  few  men  who 
would   stay  at   the   camp. 

"That's  a  pretty  way  to  do!"  exclaimed  Louis. 
(*  Suppose  I  should  be  killed  in  this  expedition, 
what  will  your  captain  say  to  my  mother  then  ?  I 
am   not   afraid    to    go,  but    I     do    not    want    to    be 


THE  STORY  OF  VITEAU.  J\ 

taken   for   a   robber,  and   be  shot   with    an  arrow,  or 
have   my  head   cut   off." 

"  Be  not  afraid,"  said  Jasto,  laughing.  "  The 
enemy  will  not  hurt  you,  if  you  keep  out  of  the 
way.  You  are  to  be  under  my  special  keeping, 
and   I   will  warrant   that   the   foe   shall  not  kill  you." 

Early  in  the  morning,  nearly  the  whole  of  Captain 
Michol's  force,  some  armed  with  lances,  some  with 
bows  and  arrows,  and  others  with  long  knives,  or 
swords  of  various  descriptions,  set  out,  on  foot,  for 
a  march  through  the  forests.  Louis  went  with  them, 
closely  accompanied  by  Jasto,  who  never  lost  sight 
of  him. 

On  the  way,  the  good-humored  robber,  who 
seemed  to  be  of  a  better  class  than  most  of  his 
companions,  using  more  correct  language,  and  be- 
having himself  better  in  every  way,  informed  Louis 
of  the  object  of  the  expedition.  About  eight  or  ten 
miles  to  the  east  of  the  camp  of  the  cotereaux 
there  was  a  chateau,  almost  as  strongly  fortified  as 
a  castle,  the  owner  of  which  possessed  a  great 
number  of  hogs.  These  animals,  until  within  a  few 
days  previous,  had  been  confined  within  close  bounds, 
for  fear  that  they  should  be  stolen.  But  as  no  evil- 
disposed  persons  had  been  seen  for  a  long  time  in 
the  neighborhood,  the  whole  herd  had  been  let  out 
into  the    adjacent   woods,  where    they    would    thrive 


72  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

much  better,  during  the  hot  weather,  than  in  their 
former  quarters.  Michol  had  been  informed  that 
these  hogs  were  ranging  through  the  woods,  under 
the  charge  of  two  or  three  men,  and  he  was  now 
going  to  try  to  capture  as  many  of  them  as  possible. 
He  took  his  large  force,  not  because  he  expected 
any  opposition  from  the  keepers  of  the  hogs,  but 
because  a  great  many  men  would  be  needed  to 
surround  and  capture  the  animals,  many  of  which 
would  be  lost  if  the  herd  should  be  allowed  to 
scatter   itself  through   the   forest. 

As  they  walked  along,  Louis  thought  that  it  was 
a  great  pity  that  the  first  foray  he  ever  set  out 
upon  should  be  an  expedition,  in  time  of  peace,  to 
6teal  pigs ;  but  he  considered  it  wise  not  to  say 
what  was  in  his  mind,  for  it  was  the  business  of 
these  men  to  steal  pigs,  or  anything  else  they  could 
lay  their  hands  on, — even  boys  and  borrowed  jen- 
nets,— and  they  might  not  fancy  his  finding  fault 
with  them.  He  was  not  afraid  of  Jasto,  with  whom 
he  had  become  very  friendly  and  communicative; 
but  many  of  the  other  men  looked  like  fellows 
whom  it  would  not  be  at  all  pleasant  to  offend. 
So  he  went  along  with  the  company,  and  made  no 
objections  until  he  had  walked  five  or  six  miles 
through  the  forest,  when  he  informed  Jasto  that  he 
was     getting    very    tired,    and    that    he    hoped    they 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  73 

would  soon  come  to  the  end  of  their  journey,  so 
that   he   could   sit  down   and    rest. 

"As  for  that,"  said  Jasto,  "the  end  of  your  jour- 
ney will  soon  come,  if  the  signs  ahead  of  us  mean 
anything.  Some  of  our  foremost  fellows  have  come 
back,  and  I  think  they  are  telling  the  Captain  that 
the  herd  is  not  far  ahead  of  us.  And  if  that  be 
so,  it  will  make  our  work  easier,  for  the  herdsmen 
will  be  far  from  home  and  can  not  call  for  help. 
You  and  I  will  not  go  up  to  the  field  of  battle, 
but  will  be  posted  outside,  with  here  and  there 
another  brave  fellow,  to  arrest  any  of  the  enemy 
who  may  take  to  flight  in  our  direction.  So  keep 
up  a  brave  pair  of  legs  for  a  little  while  longer, 
and   then   you   shall   have   your   rest." 

Sure  enough,  in  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
Jasto  received  orders  to  wait  with  Louis,  at  the  end 
of  a  small  path  through  the  underbrush,  while  the 
rest  of  the  force  spread  themselves  out  widely  through 
the  forest.  Before  long  a  great  noise  of  squealing 
and   shouting   was   heard   in   the    distance. 

"  We  have  come  upon  them,"  said  Jasto,  "  and 
many  a  good   meal  of  pork  shall  we  have  this  year." 

"I  hope  the  poor  herdsmen  are  not  getting  killed," 
said   Louis. 

"  Have  no  fear  for  them,"  replied  Jasto ;  they  will 
run   away  the   moment  they  see  one  of  us.      And  as 

4 


74 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 


they  can  not  bring  help,  there  will  be  no  Christian 
blood  shed.  Look  out  there!  Stand  close  behind 
me!     Hear   you   that?" 

Louis  plainly  heard  something  rushing  through 
the  bushes,  and  in  a  moment  a  pig,  about  half- 
grown,  dashed  along  the  path  toward  them.  When 
he    saw    Jasto,  he  stopped   for    an    instant,   and  then 

made  a  rush,  endeavoring  to 
pass  him.  But  the  robber 
was  too  quick  to  allow  that, 
and  he  stooped  and  seized 
the  scampering  porker  by  the 
hind  leg.  In  an  instant,  Jasto 
was  jerked  upon  his  back,  still 
however,  holding  fast  to  the 
struggling  pig. 


THE  STORY  OF  VITEAU.  ?$ 

Louis  shouted  in  laughter,  and  he  enjoyed  the 
fun  so  much  that  it  was  some  moments  before  he 
considered  that  the  shouting  and  wriggling  Jasto 
probably  wanted  his  assistance.  He  then  ran  up, 
and,  taking  hold  of  the  other  hind  leg  of  the  pris- 
oner, enabled  Jasto  to  get  up,  and  to  tie  the  pig's 
legs  together  with  a  strong  cord  which  he  had  in 
his   pocket. 

"  There,  now,"  cried  Jasto,  with  a  very  red  face, 
"the  rest  of  the  pork  will  be  ready  to  cook  or  salt 
down,  but  this  fellow  I  shall  take  home  to  fatten. 
He   is   too   lean   and   lively  for   good    eating   now." 

In  less  than  half  an  hour  the  rest  of  the  company 
appeared,  walking  in  a  long  line,  some  of  the  men 
bearing  each  a  slaughtered  pig,  while  here  and  there 
two  fellows  carried  a  larger  animal  between  them. 
Jasto  threw  his  prize  across  his  shoulders,  and, 
although  there  was  a  good  deal  of  struggling  on 
the  part  of  the  pig,  his  captor  held  him  firmly,  and 
carried  him  thus  throughout  the  whole  long  tramp 
back   to   the   camp. 

When  he  reached  the  huts,  Jasto  immediately  set 
to  work  to  make  a  rude  pen  of  stakes  and  poles, 
in  which  he  shut  up  his  pig,  which  was  to  be 
thoroughly  fattened  before  sharing  the  fate  of  his 
brethren   who  had   been    slain   in   the   forest. 

Louis  was  a  very  tired  boy  when  he  found  himself 


;6  THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

again  in  the  camp,  and  he  slept  until  a  late  hour 
the  next  morning ;  but,  as  soon  as  he  had  had  his 
breakfast  and  felt  fully  awake,  he  went  to  hunt  up 
Jasto,  so   that   he   could   begin   his  letter. 

But  he  found  that  individual,  his  well-mended  and 
red-lined  clothes  exchanged  for  an  indescribably 
wretched  suit,  busily  engaged,  with  a  large  portion 
of  his  comrades,  in  cutting  up  and  curing,  in  various 
ways,  the  pork  which  had  been  brought  in  the  day 
before.  The  band  had  so  much  hog-flesh  on  hand 
that  they  hardly  knew  what  to  do  with  all  of  it, 
and  they  were  so  busy  for  several  days  that  Jasto 
had  no  time  to  give  to  Louis  and  his  literary 
labors. 

But,  as  soon  as  the  pork  business  was  finished 
and  Jasto  was  at  liberty,  Louis  set  to  work  in 
earnest   to   write   his  letter   to   his  mother. 

Jasto  prepared  the  parchment,  nearly  obliterating 
the  writing  on  one  side  of  it,  and,  the  ink  and  pen 
being  ready,  the  work  began,  and  a  very  important 
work  it  seemed  to  be.  Louis,  of  course,  was  anxious 
that  his  first  letter  to  his  mother  should  be  a  good 
one,  well  spelled  and  well  expressed ;  Jasto  contin- 
ually suggested  forcible  and  high-sounding  sentences, 
containing  words  which  neither  Louis  nor  he  could 
spell ;  the  Captain  came  several  times  to  the  place 
where   the   writing   was  going  on,  to   insist  on  certain 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  77 

terms  of  ransom  being  clearly  stated ;  and  nearly  all 
the  men  in  the  band  straggled  up,  one  or  two  at 
a  time,  to  know  how  the  letter  was  coming  on, 
and  to  hear  Louis  read  what  he  had  already  writ- 
ten. It  was  a  document  of  great  interest  to  every 
one  of  the  robbers,  for,  if  it  should  succeed  in  its 
purpose,  it  would  bring  a  large  sum  of  money  to 
the   band. 

At  last,  after  much  labor  and  consultation,  Louis 
finished  the  letter  just  as  the  sun  was  setting,  and 
as  one  of  the  men  called  out  that  the  evening  meal 
— which  that  day  consisted  principally  of  fresh  pork 
— was    ready. 

Louis  laid  his  letter,  the  last  words  of  which  were 
scarcely  dry,  upon  the  ground,  putting  a  stone  upon 
it  to  keep  it  from  blowing  away,  and  ran  to  get 
his  supper.  While  he  and  the  rest  of  the  company 
were  busily  eating,  Jasto's  pig  broke  out  of  the  pen, 
and,  seeing  the  parchment  letter  under  the  tree, 
devoured   it  without  the   slightest   hesitation. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

WHEN  Barran  had  searched  the  forest  on  the 
western  side  of  the  highway  for  nearly  three 
days,  and  had  found  no  traces  of  the  cotereaux,  he 
was  obliged  to  return  to  Viteau,  before  entering  the 
woods  to  the  east,  to  obtain  a  fresh  supply  of  pro- 
visions. He  was  utterly  astounded,  of  course,  when 
he  heard  of  the  flight  of  the  Countess,  with  nearly 
all  her  household ;  but  he  was  still  more  surprised, 
and  very  much  alarmed,  when  the  seneschal  told  him 
that,  in  an  hour  or  so  after  the  departure  of  the 
Countess  and  her  party,  the  chateau  had  been  visited 
by  a  large  body  of  armed  men,  accompanied  by 
several  priests,  among  whom  was  Brother  Anselmo. 
These  men  were  admitted  because  the  presence  of 
the  priests  was  a  token  that  they  were  friends,  but 
they  behaved  very  strangely  after  they  entered.      One 

78 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  79 

of  them  demanded  to  see  the  Countess,  and  when 
he  was  told  that  she  had  gone  away  to  look  for 
her  son,  as  the  seneschal  supposed  she  had  gone, 
he  ordered  the  other  men  to  search  the  chateau 
from  top  to  bottom,  evidently  believing  not  a  word 
that   was   told   him. 

But  after  every  room  and  every  part  of  the  house 
and  grounds  had  been  ransacked,  and  when  it  was 
found  that  the  Countess  was  really  not  in  the  cha- 
teau, and  that  her  ladies,  and  almost  all  her  attend- 
ants, as  well  as  the  horses  in  her  stables,  had  gone 
away,  the  search  was  given  up,  and,  after  a  great 
deal  of  talking  among  themselves,  and  a  great  deal 
of  severe  questioning  of  the  seneschal  and  the  other 
servants  of  the  house  who  had  been  left  behind,  the 
unpleasant   visitors    departed. 

What  they  wanted,  and  why  they  came,  the  sene- 
schal did  not  know,  any  more  than  he  knew  why 
the  Countess  had  left.  But  Barran  was  not  long  in 
divining  the  truth.  He  felt  certain  that  the  men 
with  the  priests  were  officers  of  the  Inquisition,  and 
that  the  Countess  had  heard  of  their  intended  visit, 
and  had  escaped  from  the  chateau.  Whether  or  not 
she  was  then  really  out  of  their  power,  he  did  not 
know ;  but,  as  he  hoped  that  her  destination  was 
his  own  castle,  the  Count  determined  to  hasten  home 
as  fast  as  he  could. 


80  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

After  a  brief  halt  for  rest  and  food,  Barran,  with 
all  his  men,  hastened  back  to  his  castle,  where,  to 
his  great  delight,  he  found  the  Countess  safe  from 
her  pursuers. 

But  the  relief  and  satisfaction  of  the  poor  lady 
at  her  present  security  was  entirely  overbalanced  by 
the  news  that  her  son  had  not  been  found.  She 
was  in  such  grief  that  Barran  had  not  the  heart  to 
tell  her  of  the  visit  of  the  Inquisitors.  He  assured 
her  that  he  would  immediately  begin  the  search  of 
the  forests  on  the  other  side  of  the  road;  but, 
before  he  started  the  next  day,  he  held  an  earnest 
consultation  with  Bernard  and  with  Count  de  Lanne, 
who  was  taken  into  confidence  in  this  most  important 
matter,  in  regard  to  the  measures  to  be  adopted 
should  the  officers  of  the  Inquisition  follow  the 
Countess   to   the   castle. 

Nothing  was  agreed  upon,  excepting  that  Bernard 
declared  that  she  should  never  be  given  up,  so  long 
as  life  remained  in  his  body ;  but  Barran  considered 
it  necessary  that  he  himself  should  be  at  home,  in 
case  the  Inquisitors  should  come  to  the  castle;  and 
so,  after  conducting  his  men  to  the  forest,  and 
instructing  them  as  to  the  manner  in  which  they 
should  proceed,  he  returned  to  the  castle,  where  he 
remained  quietly,  without  informing  the  Countess  of 
his   presence. 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  8 1 

He  would  have  been  glad  to  assist  in  the  search 
for  Louis,  for  whose  safety  he  was  very  anxious, 
but  he  regarded  the  mother's  position  as  one  which 
required  his  personal  attention  much  more  than  did 
that  of  the  son.  He  would  have  told  her  everything, 
and  have  urged  her  to  leave  France,  if  possible ;  but 
he  knew  she  could  not  be  induced  to  take  a  step  of 
the  kind  until  she  had  seen  her  son,  or  had  had 
definite  news  of  him,  and  so  he  deemed  it  unwise  to 
say  any  thing  about  the  Inquisitors  as  long  as  he 
felt  sure  that  she  would  go  no  farther  to  escape  from 
them.  She  asked  no  questions,  for  her  mind  seemed 
entirely  occupied  by  the  loss   of  her  boy. 

She  would  not  allow  Raymond  to  go  with  the 
searching  party,  for  fear  she  should  in  some  way  lose 
him  also ;  and  this  troubled  her  eldest  son  greatly 
until  she  told  him,  as  she  had  promised,  of  the  danger 
with  which  she  was  threatened,  and  which  had 
caused   her   to    leave   her   home. 

This  information  had  a  powerful  effect  upon  Ray- 
mond. It  seemed  to  make  him  several  years  older. 
At  first  he  scarcely  could  believe  that  there  were 
people  in  the  world  who  could  wish  to  punish  his 
dear  mother  for  believing  what  she  thought  right 
about  religious  matters;  but  when  he  heard  how  so 
many  persons  had  been  cruelly  tried  and  punished 
by  the   Inquisition    for   saying   and  thinking   no    more 


82  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

than  his  mother  had  said  and  thought,  he  saw  what 
peril  she  was  in ;  and  he  determined,  like  Bernard, 
that  he  would  never  leave  her  until  she  should  be 
safe  from  all   her  dangers. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

WHEN  Captain  Michol  heard  of  the  fate  of  the 
letter, — and  there  could  be  no  doubt  as  to 
what  that  fate  was,  for  the  pig  was  found  rooting 
around  the  spot  where  the  parchment  had  been  left, 
evidently  searching  for  something  else  good  to  eat, 
— he  was  very  angry.  He  knew  that  there  was  no 
more  parchment  in  the  camp,  nor  anything  else  on 
which  a  proper  letter  could  be  written,  and  he  did 
not  know  when  or  where  he  could  procure  any 
material  of  the  kind.  He  had  made  all  his  arrange- 
ments to  send  the  letter,  which  had  now  been  too 
long  delayed,  to  Viteau  the  next  day ;  and  this 
disappointment  enraged  him  very  much.  He  ordered 
Jasto's  pig  to  be  instantly  slaughtered,  and  he  told 
Louis  that  he  would  cut  off  one  of  his  ears  and 
send   that   to   his     mother,  and   then,    if  a    handsome 

83 


84  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

ransom  did  not  soon  arrive,  he  would  cut  off  the 
other  one  and  send  it  also. 

Whether  or  not  the  Captain  was  in  earnest  in 
making  this  threat  is  not  to  be  known  ;  but  it 
frightened  Louis  greatly,  and  he  determined  that  the 
morning  should  not  find  him  in  the  power  of  a  man 
who  would  do  such  terrible  things,  and  he  made  up 
his  mind  to  escape  that  night,  no  matter  what  might 
afterward  happen  to  him. 

Accordingly,  when  Jasto  was  fast  asleep,  poor  little 
Louis  slipped  quietly  past  him  and  made  his  way 
into  the  forest.  He  pushed  blindly  through  the 
thickets  and  undergrowth,  not  knowing  in  what  direc- 
tion he  was  going — only  anxious  to  get  away  as  far 
as  possible  from  the  cruel  Captain.  It  was  very  dark, 
and  he  frequently  came  violently  against  a  tree,  or 
stumbled  over  tangled  vines  and  bushes,  scratching 
his  hands  and  face  and  bruising  his  body ;  but  he 
still  pressed  on,  wherever  he  could  push  himself  through 
the  bushes.  When  daylight  should  appear  he  hoped 
to  be  able  to  make  his  way  to  the  high-road,  and, 
once   there,  he   felt  sure   he   could   walk   to    Viteau, 

But,  after  hours  of  toilsome  and  painful  struggling 
through  the  pathless  underbrush,  he  found  that,  even 
by  the  increasing  light,  he  could  not  discover,  although 
he  searched  diligently,  any  sign  or  indication  of  a 
passage    through    the    thicket.      He    even    climbed   a 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  85 

tree,  but  could  see  nothing  except  trees  and  bushes — 
the  latter  extending,  in  what  seemed  like  impenetrable 
masses,  in  every  direction. 

Almost  tired  to  death,  he  sat  down  at  the  foot  of 
the  tree  he  had  climbed,  and  in  a  few  minutes  was 
fast  asleep.  He  slept  for  hours,  and  it  was  after  noon 
when  he  was  awakened  by  some  one  laughing  very 
close  to  him. 

Louis  opened  his  eyes  with  a  start,  and  there  was 
Jasto,  who  at  that  moment  laughed  again.  The  boy 
sprang  up  with  a  cry,  and  was  about  to  plunge  into 
the   bushes,   but   the   robber    seized   him   by  the   arm. 

"  No,  no,  my  good  Sir  Page,"  said  Jasto.  "  Don't 
lead  me  over  any  more  such  wretched  ways  as  you 
have  led  me  this  morning.     I've  had  enough  of  them." 

"  Oh,  Jasto !  "  cried  Louis,  "  you  are  not  going  to 
take  me  back  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  the  robber,  "  what  I  shall  do 
with  you,  but  I  certainly  shall  not  take  you  back 
the  way  you  came.  Where  you  crept  under  the 
bushes,  I  had  to  break  through  them.  I  never  saw 
such  a  fellow  for  hiding.  How  do  you  suppose  I 
found  you  ?  " 

"  I    don't   know,"   said    Louis. 

"  I  found  you,"  said  Jasto,  "  by  not  looking  for  you. 
The  rest  of  our  men — and  nearly  all  of  them  turned 
out  to  search  for   you,  when   we    found  you    had   run 


86  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

away — scattered  themselves  about  in  all  directions,  to 
see  if  they  could  catch  a  glimpse  of  you.  I  did 
nothing  of  that  kind.  I  knew  that  if  a  boy  like  you 
were  to  crouch  under  a  thick  bush,  I  could  not  see 
him.  So  I  looked  for  little  bits  of  blue  silk  from 
a  pair  of  trunk  hose,  and  little  shreds  of  purple  cloth 
from  a  tunic  that  I  knew  of.  I  saw  a  bit  of  the  silk 
on  some  briers  when  I  started  out,  and  I  knew  I 
should  find  more.  I  lost  your  track  many  times, 
but  every  now  and  then  a  bit  of  rag  on  a  thorn 
would  encourage  me ;  and  so,  at  last,  I  came  up  to 
the  gallant  young  page  who  was  marking  his  way 
with  pieces  of  silk  and  costly  cloth.  It  made  me  laugh 
to  think  how  truly  these  rags  had  led  me  to  him." 
"  I  am  glad,  Jasto,"  said  Louis,  "  that  you  found 
me,  and  not  one  of  the  other  men.  I  don't  believe 
you  will  make  me  go  back  to  the  Captain  to  have 
one  of  my  ears  cut  off.  You  will  show  me  the  way 
to  go  home,  and  I  promise  you,  if  you  will  do  that, 
that  my  mother  will  send  you  a  good  sum  of  money, 
quite  as  much  as  she  would  have  sent  to  the  Captain 
if  she  had  got  my  letter  and   had  ransomed   me." 

"  I  am  not  sure  about  that,"  said  Jasto,  "  but  I  have 
been  thinking  over  the  matter,  and  it  may  be  that 
I  shall  not  take  you  back  to  our  camp.  I  have  a 
kindly  feeling  for  you,  Sir  Page.  First,  because  I 
think    you  are  a  lad  of  spirit,  as   I   used  to   be;    and 


THE  STORY   OF   VITEAU.  87 

second,  because  my  pig  ate  your  letter,  and  so  brought 
your  trouble  on  you.  Therefore,  I  feel  bounden  to 
help  you  out  of  it.  But,  if  I  send  you  to  your 
mother,  she  may  forget  my  sole  share  in  your  rescue 
and  return,  and  may  send  the  ransom-money  to  our 
company,  when  it  will  be  so  divided  and  shared, 
and  measured  into  parts,  that  I  shall  get  very  little 
of  it.  So  I  think  I  shall  take  you  to  your  mother, 
and  then  I  shall  get  all  the  ransom  myself,  and  not 
be  obliged  to  share  it  with  any  one.  And  I  am  sure 
the  good  lady,  your  mother,  will  give  more  to  him 
who  brings  you  back  than  to  him  who  has  merely 
carried   you    away." 

"  Indeed  would  she ! "  cried  Louis,  more  than 
delighted  at  the  prospect  of  being  taken  directly  to 
his   home. 

"  Well,  then,"  said  Jasto,  "  take  you  this  piece  of 
bread,  which  I  put  in  my  pocket  before  I  set  out 
this  morning,  and  when  you  have  eaten  it,  you  will 
be  strong  enough,  mayhap,  to  go  on  to  your  mother's 
chateau,  though  it  is  still  a  good  distance  from  here; 
and  I  promise  you  that  I  shall  not  lead  you  through 
such  rough  ways  as  you  led  me.  But  we  must  be 
careful,  for,  if  we  meet  any  of  my  good  comrades, 
there   will  be   an   end   of    our  plan." 

When  Louis  had  finished  eating, — and,  coarse  and 
hard  as  the    bread  was,  he    devoured    every  morsel, 


88  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

for  it  was  his  breakfast  and  his  dinner, — the  two  started 
off  for  Viteau.  Louis  supposed  that  they  would 
try  to  reach  the  main  road  as  soon  as  possible;  but 
Jasto  assured  him  that  he  had  no  idea  of  doing  that, 
for  the  woods  would  be  occupied,  at  various  points 
along  the  road,  by  the  cotereaux,  who  would  expect  the 
fugitive  boy  to  take  the  highway  as  soon  as  he  could 
find  it  Instead  of  that,  Jasto  intended  to  slyly  make  his 
way,  through  the  woods,  to  the  nearest  point  to  Viteau, 
and  then  to  strike  across  the  country  to    the    chateau. 

Jasto  was  an  expert  and  experienced  woodsman, 
and  he  found  paths  where  Louis  would  never  have 
imagined  they  could  exist ;  and  with  great  care  and 
caution,  and  frequent  halts  for  outlook  and  listening, 
he  led  the  boy  through  the  devious  mazes  of  the 
forest,  without  meeting  one  of  his  comrades.  About 
dark  they  reached  the  edge  of  the  forest,  and  then 
they  cautiously  made  their  way  to  the  chateau,  where 
they  arrived   late   in   the    night. 

It  would  be  hard  to  express  the  consternation  of 
Louis — and  that  of  Jasto  was  almost  as  great — at 
finding  that  the  Countess  had  gone  away ;  that 
Barran  had  been  there  that  day,  returning  from  a 
search  for  his  lost  page,  but  had  almost  immediately 
set  out  for  his  castle,  and  that  a  body  of  strange 
men,  accompanied  by  priests,  had  been  searching  the 
house  for  his  mother  only  the  night  before. 


THE   STORY   OF    VITEAU.  89 

Poor  Louis,  who  could  not  imagine  what  all  this 
meant,  and  who  was  bewildered  and  astounded  at 
seeing  the  happy  home  he  had  always  known 
deserted  by  every  one  excepting  the  seneschal  and  a 
few  servants,  desired  nothing  so  much  as  to  go  imme- 
diately to  his  mother.  But  this  Jasto  would  not  have 
allowed,  had  it  been  possible,  for  the  boy  was  nearly 
exhausted  by  fatigue  and  want  of  food.  After  some 
supper  had  been  prepared  for  the  two  travelers,  and 
Louis  had  eaten  as  much  as  Jasto  thought  good  for 
him,  the  robber  accompanied  his  young  companion 
to  the  room  he  had  been  used  to  occupy  with  his 
brother  Raymond,  and,  after  seeing  him  safely  in 
bed,  lay  down  on  the  floor  across  the  door-way,  and 
went  to  sleep  himself.  It  was  evident  that  he 
intended  to  take  good  care  that  Louis  should  not 
leave  him  this  time  until  he  had  conducted  him 
into    his    mother's   presence. 

The  seneschal  was  rather  surprised  at  the  actions 
of  this  man,  who  announced  himself  as  a  friend  to  the 
boy,  and  one  who  had  saved  him  from  the  robbers 
who  had  captured  him ;  but,  as  he  and  Louis  seemed 
on  very  friendly  terms,  the  old  man  made  no  objection 
to   anything   that   Jasto   said   or   did. 

In  the  morning,  Louis  insisted  upon  an  early  start 
for  Barran's  castle ;  but,  although  Jasto  was  now 
perfectly   willing  to   go,  he   was   afraid   to   do   so,   for 


90  THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

there  was  no  other  road  but  the  one  which  led 
through  the  woods,  and  on  that  he  certainly  would  be 
seen  by  some  of  the  cotereaux,  who  would  keep  the 
road  under  constant  watch.  To  make  his  way  with 
the  boy  through  the  woods  on  the  west  of  the  road 
would  be  almost  impossible,  for  he  was  not  familiar 
with  that  part  of  the  forest,  and  did  not  know  the 
paths  ;  and  Louis  would  of  a  certainty  be  tired  out 
long  before  he  could  reach  the  castle,  which  was 
distant   almost   a   day's    journey  for   a   horse. 

But  fortune  favored  him,  for,  after  he  had  spent  most 
of  the  day  in  endeavoring  to  impress  these  things  on 
the  mind  of  the  impatient  Louis,  and  in  making 
efforts  to  find  some  one  who  would  be  willing  to  go 
to  the  castle  and  inform  the  Countess  of  her  son's 
arrival  at  Viteau,  there  came  to  the  chateau  a  party 
of  horsemen  who  had  been  sent  by  Barran  to  see  if 
anything  had  been  heard  from  the  boy  at  his  home, 
the  party  in  the  eastern  woods,  having,  so  far,  met  no 
traces  of  his  captors. 

The  course  was  now  easy  enough,  and  the  next 
day  Barran's  men  set  out  for  the  castle,  taking  with 
them  the  happy  Louis  and  Jasto,  who  felt  no  fear  of 
capture  by  his  former  comrades  now  that  he  was 
escorted  by  a  body  of  well-armed  men. 

The  scene  at  the  castle,  when  Louis  arrived  was  a 
joyous  one.     The  Countess  forgot  all  her  troubles  and 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  91 

feafs  about  herself,  in  her  great  happiness  for  the 
return  of  her  son ;  and  even  Raymond  ceased  to 
think,  for  a  time,  of  his  mother's  danger,  so  glad  was 
he  to  see  his  dear  brother  again.  Every  one  at  the 
castle,  indeed,  was  in  a  state  of  great  delight,  for 
Louis  was  a  general  favorite,  and  few  persons  had 
expected  to  see  him  again. 

Among  the  most  joyful  of  his  welcomers  was 
Agnes.  She  listened  to  his  story  with  the  greatest 
eagerness,  and,  when  he  began  to  lament  that  he  had 
lost  her  horse,  she  exclaimed : 

"  We  don't  think  much  about  horses,  my  father  and 
I,  when  we  are  afraid  that  we  have  lost  boys.  It  is 
easy  enough  to  get  another  Jennet,  and,  before  many 
years,  this  one  would  have  been  too  small  for  me. 
Do  you  think  he  is  in  a  comfortable  place  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  answered  Louis.  "  I  did  not  see 
where  they  took  him." 

"  At  any  rate,"  said  the  girl,  promptly,  "  the  thieves 
can  not  ride  him  in  the  forest,  and  so  he  will  not 
be  worn  out  by  hard  work.  But  we  won't  talk  about 
him  any  more.  And  your  brother's  new  falcon  is 
gone,  too,  I  suppose." 

"  Oh,  yes,"  said  Louis,  ruefully.  "  But  he  will  not 
grieve  about  that,  for  he  did  not  know  he  was  going 
to  have  one.  I  thought  of  that  a  good  many  times, 
when    I    was    among  the   robbers.      If   he   had   been 


92  THE   STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

expecting  it,  things  would  have  been  a  great  deal 
worse  than  they  are  now." 

"  Of  course  he  did  not  expect  the  bird,"  said  the 
girl,  "  but  he  knows  you  have  lost  it,  for  everybody 
was  told  that  it  was  to  carry  him  a  new  falcon  that 
you  left  the  castle.  But  he  never  will  scold  you  for 
not  bringing  it,  and  so  we  need  not  say  anything  more 
about  it.  But  he  must  wonder  that  you  were  bring- 
ing him  a  falcon ;  for  how  could  you  know  he  had 
none,  when  you  left  your  mother's  house  before  any- 
thing was  said  about  his  bird  having  been  lost?  He 
must  suspect  you  had  something  to  do  with  it." 

"  Of  course  he  does,"  said  poor  Louis.  "  I  intended 
to  tell  him  all  about  it  when  I  should  give  him  the 
new  falcon ;   but  it  will  be  harder  to  do  it  now." 

"  Don't  you  say  a  word  about  it,"  said  Agnes,  who 
was  really  a  kind-hearted  girl,  although  she  liked  to 
talk  about  everything  that  was  on  her  mind.  I'll  tell 
him  myself.  It  will  be  easy  enough  for  me  to  do  it, 
and  I  can  tell  him  better  than  you  can,  anyway." 

She  did  tell  Raymond  all  about  it,  dwelling  with 
much  earnestness  on  Louis's  sorrow  for  his  fault,  and 
his  great  desire  to  make  amends  for  it;  but  she  found 
that  Raymond  cared  very  little  about  falcons.  His 
mind  was  occupied  with  weightier  matters. 

"  Louis  is  a  good  fellow  and  a  true  one,"  he  said, 
"  although  he  often  plays  wild  pranks,   and   the    only 


THE   COUNTESS    SENT    FOR   JASTO   AND   THANKED   HIM   WARMLY. 


THE   STORY   OF    VITEAU.  93 

reason  I  am  sorry  that  he  lost  my  bird  is  that  it 
caused  him  such  danger,  and  all  of  us  such  grief." 

"  I  like  Louis  better  than  Raymond,"  said  Agnes  to 
herself.  "  Raymond  talks  so  much  like  a  man,  and 
he  isn't  half  so  glad  as  he  ought  to  be,  now  that  his 
brother  is  saved  from  those  dreadful  robbers.  If  I 
were  in  his  place,  I'd  be  singing  and  dancing  all  the 
time." 

The  Countess  sent  for  Jasto,  and  thanked  him 
warmly  and  earnestly  for  bringing  her  son  to  her, 
instead  of  taking  him  back  to  the  cotereaux. 

"  If  I  could  do  it  now,"  she  said,  "  I  should  reward 
you  handsomely  for  what  you  have  done  for  me ; 
but,  as  I  left  my  chateau  for  this  place  very  suddenly, 
I  have  no  money  with  me.  However,  as  soon  as  I 
shall  have  opportunity  to  send  for  some,  I  shall  more 
than  pay  you  for  the  trouble  you  have  taken.  Mean- 
time, as  your  conduct  shows  that  you  wish  to  leave 
your  companions  and  give  up  your  evil  ways,  you 
can  remain  here,  and  I  shall  see  that  you  receive  fair 
treatment  and  are  well  employed."  And  then,  with  a 
few  more  gracious  words,  she  dismissed  him. 

This  was  all  very  pleasant,  for  the  Countess  spoke 
so  sweetly  and  looked  so  good  that  it  greatly  gratified 
Jasto  to  have  her  talk  to  him  so  kindly,  and  thank 
him  for  what  he  had  done ;  but  still  he  was  not 
satisfied.     He  had  expected  to  make  a  regular  bargain 


94  THE   STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

about  a  ransom,  and  hoped  that  Louis  would  have 
told  his  mother  how  much  Michol  was  going  to 
charge  for  his  return ;  but  he  found  the  boy  had  never 
mentioned  the  matter,  and  he  did  not  feel  bold 
enough,  in  his  first  interview  with  the  Countess,  to 
do  it  himself.  He  knew  that  he  would  be  rewarded, 
but  he  felt  sure  that  a  lady  would  have  no  idea  of 
the  proper  sum  to  pay  for  a  page's  ransom.  If  the 
pig  had  not  eaten  the  letter  her  son  had  written,  she 
would  have  been  astonished  indeed.  He  would  wait, 
and,  when  the  proper  time  came,  he  would  let  it  be 
known  that  he  expected  ransom-money  just  as  much 
as  if  he  had  kept  the  boy  in  some  secret  spot,  and 
had  made  his  mother  send  the  sum  required  before 
her  son  was  restored  to  her.  Meanwhile,  he  was 
perfectly  willing  to  remain  in  the  service  of  the 
good  Countess,  and  the  first  thing  he  asked  for  was 
a  suit  of  clothes  not  composed  of  patches  sewn 
together  with  bright  red  silk.  And  that  he  received 
without   delay. 

Now  that  Louis  was  safe  at  the  castle,  the  minds 
of  the  Countess  and  her  friends  were  occupied  with 
the  great  question  of  her  safety.  It  was  not  to  be 
expected  that  the  officers  of  the  Inquisition  would 
give  up  their  attempts  to  arrest  the  lady ;  and  although 
Barran's  castle  and  Barran's  forces  might  be  strong 
enough   to   hold   her  securely  and  to   drive  back   her 


THE  STORY  OF  VITEAU.  95 

persecutors,  a  contest  of  this  kind  with  the  Church 
was  something  not  to  be  desired  by  the  Count  nor 
by  his  friends.  Barran  and  Lanne  were  both  of  the 
opinion  that  the  safest  refuge  for  the  Countess  would 
be  England ;  but  a  secret  journey  there  would  be 
full  of  hardships,  and  might  compel  her  to  give  up 
all  her  property,  and  to  be  separated  from  her  sons. 
It  was  hard  to  decide  what  to  do,  and  at  any  day 
the  officers  of  the  Inquisition  might  appear  at  the 
gates   of   the   castle 


CHAPTER  X. 

A  FEW  days  after  the  arrival  of  Louis  and  Jasto 
at  the  castle  of  Barran,  the  Countess  found  it 
necessary  to  send  to  Viteau  for  some  clothing  and 
other  things  which  were  needed  by  herself  and  her 
ladies,  for  they  had  brought  very  little  with  them  in 
their   hasty  flight    from    the   chateau. 

A  trusty  squire — not  Bernard,  for  he  would  not  leave 
his  mistress  for  so  long  a  time  as  a  day  and  night — 
was  sent,  with  a  small,  but  well-armed  body  of  men, 
to  convey  to  the  castle  the  property  desired  by  the 
Countess,  and  to  give  some  orders  to  the  seneschal 
in  charge.  When  the  party  reached  the  chateau, 
early  in  the  evening,  the  squire  was  greatly  surprised 
to  find  that  he  could  not  enter.  The  gates  were  all 
closed  and  barred  securely,  and  no  answer  came  to 
his  calls  and  shouts  to  the  inmates. 

96 


THE  STORY  OF  VITEAU.  97 

At  length,  a  small  window  in  the  principal  gate  was 
opened,  and  a  man's  head,  wearing  a  helmet  with  the 
visor  down,  appeared  in  the  square  aperture. 

"  Which  of  the  varlets  that  we  left  here  are  you  ?  " 
cried  the  angry  squire.  "And  what  are  you  doing 
with  the  armor  of  the  Countess  on  your  rascally 
head?  Did  you  not  know  me  when  I  called  to  you, 
and  when  are  you    going   to    open  this  gate  for   us  ?" 

"  I  am  not  any  man's  varlet,"  said  the  person  in  the 
helmet,  "  and  you  did  not  leave  me  here.  I  wear 
this  helmet  because  I  thought  that  some  of  your 
impatient  men  might  thrust  at  me  with  a  spear,  or 
shoot  an  arrow  at  me  when  I  should  show  my  head. 
I  did  not  know  you  when  you  called,  for  I  never 
heard  your  voice  before,  and  I  am  not  going  to  open 
the  gate  for  you  at  all." 

The  squire  sat  upon  his  horse,  utterly  astounded 
at  this  speech,  while  his  men  gathered  around  him, 
wondering  what   strange  thing   they  next  would  hear. 

"Who,  then,  are  you?"  cried  the  squire,  when  he 
had  found  his  voice,  "and  what  are  you  doing  here?" 

"I  have  no  objection,"  said  the  other,  "to  make 
the  acquaintance  of  any  man  who  wants  to  know  me, 
and  to  tell  him  what  I  do,  if  it  be,  in  any  way,  his 
business.  I  am  Michol,  the  captain  of  the  good  and 
true  band  of  cotereaux  who  for  some  time  past  have 
lived  in  this  forest,  near  by ;  and  what  I  am  doing  here 

5 


98  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

is  this :  I  am  dwelling  in  this  goodly  chateau,  in 
peace  and  comfort,  with  my  men." 

The  squire  turned  and  looked  at  his  followers. 

"What  think  you,"  he  said,  "does  all  this  mean? 
Is  this  a  man  gone  crazed?" 

"Not  so,"  said  the  man  with  the  helmet;  "not  so, 
my  good  fellow.  I  may  have  done  crazy  deeds  in 
by-gone  days,  but  this  is  the  most  sane  thing  I  ever 
did  in  all  my  life.  If  you  should  care  to  hear  the 
whole  story,  straight  and  true, — and  I  should  like 
much  to  tell  it  to  you,  that  you  may  take  it  to  your 
mistress, — come  closer  and  listen." 

The  squire,  anxious  enough  to  hear,  rode  close 
to  the  gate;  the  men  crowded  near  him,  and  Michol, 
for  it  was  really  the  captain  of  the  cotereaux,  told  his 
story. 

"  I  am  going  to  make  this  tale  a  short  one,"  he  said, 
"  so  that  you  can  remember  it,  and  tell  it  clearly,  all  of 
you.  When  the  boy,  son  of  the  Countess  of  Viteau, 
was  stolen   from   us " 

"  Stolen  !  "    ejaculated  the  squire. 

"Yes,"  said  the  other,  "that  is  the  word.  We 
captured  the  youngster  fairly  on  the  road,  and  held 
him  for  fitting  and  suitable  ransom ;  and  before  we 
had  opportunity  to  acquaint  his  friends  with  his 
whereabouts,  and  with  the  sum  demanded  for  him,  he 
was   basely  stolen  by  a  traitor   of   our  company,  and 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  99 

carried  away  from  us,  thus  cheating  us  of  what  was 
our   fair   and    just   reward." 

"  Reward  ! "  exclaimed  the  squire.  "  Reward  for 
what  ?  " 

"  For  treating  him  well  and  not  killing  him,"  said 
Michol,  coolly.  "  When  I  found  out  the  base  deed 
that  had  been  done  to  us,"  he  continued,  "  I  gathered 
all  my  men,  together  with  another  band  of  brave 
fellows,  who  gladly  joined  us,  and  I  came  boldly 
here  to  demand  the  ransom  for  the  boy,  and  the  body 
of  the  wretched  villian  who  stole  him  away.  And 
when  I  found  no  boy,  and  no  traitor,  and  no  Countess, 
and  no  one  in  the  whole  chateau  but  an  old  man  and 
some  stupid  varlets,  I  blessed  my  happy  stars,  and 
took  possession  of  the  whole  domain.  And  this  I 
shall  hold,  occupy,  and  defend,  until  the  Countess, 
its  former  mistress,  shall  send  to  me  one  hundred 
silver  marks,  together  with  the  person  of  the  traitor 
Jasto.  When  these  shall  have  been  fairly  delivered 
to  me,  I  shall  surrender  the  chateau,  and  honorably 
depart,  with   all   my   men." 

"  You  need  expect  nothing  of  that  kind,"  cried  the 
squire.  "  Count  de  Barran  and  the  good  knights  with 
him,  when  they  hear  this  story,  will  come  down  upon 
you  and  drive  you  out  with  all  your  men  ;  and  never  a 
piece  of  money,  gold  or  silver,  will  you  gain  by  this  deed 
— unless,  indeed,  it  shall  be  such  as  you  shall  find  here." 


IOO  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

"  I  shall  have  my  money,"  replied  Michol ;  "  but 
until  I  hear  that  my  just  demands  are  denied,  I  shall 
break  no  bars  or  locks  to  look  for  it.  My  men  and 
I  will  live  merrily  on  the  good  stores  of  the  Countess ; 
but  while  we  hold  this  place  as  warranty  for  her  son's 
ransom,  we  shall  not  sack  or  pillage.  But  if  your  lord 
and  his  knights  should  come  to  drive  me  out,  they 
would  find  more  good  soldiers  here  than  they  can 
bring,  for  in  times  of  peace  we  are  strong,  and  the 
lords  of  the  land  are  weak,  unless,  indeed,  they  keep 
retainers  and  men-at-arms  for  mere  show  and  ostenta- 
tion. My  men  are  well  armed,  too,  for  the  Count  of 
Viteau  kept  his  armory  well  furnished,  as  became 
a  valiant  knight  and  a  leader  of  fighting  men.  So, 
therefore,  if  Barran  shall  come  to  give  us  foul  blows, 
instead  of  fair  words  and  just  deeds,  he  will  get  blow 
for  blow,  and  harder  blows,  methinks,  than  he  can 
strike ;  and  if  it  should  be,  by  strange  fortune,  that 
he  drive  us  out,  he  would  drive  us  only  from  the 
blazing  ruins  of  this  chateau.  *  All  this  I  tell  you, 
my  good  squire,  that  you  may  tell  it  to  Barran  and 
the  Countess.     Think  you  you  will  remember  it  ?  " 

*Such  was  the  lawlessness  of  the  times,  when  people  had 
to  rely  on  themselves  for  protection  and  defense,  that  a  deed 
like  the  taking  of  this  chateau  would  probably  meet  with  no 
immediate  punishment,  unless  it  were  inflicted  by  the  injured 
owner  or  his  friends. 


THE  STORY  OF   VJTEAU.  101 

"  Indeed  will  I,"  said  the  squire.  "  Such  words  can 
not  easily  be  forgotten.     But  then   I   truly  think " 

"  No  more  of  that !  "  interrupted  Michol.  "  I  do  not 
care  what  you  think.  Hear,  remember,  and  tell. 
That  is  enough  for  you  in  this  matter.  And,  now, 
what  brought  you  here?  You  did  not  come  to  bring 
word,  good  or  bad,  to  me  ? " 

"  Indeed  I  did  not,"  said  the  other,  "  for  I  knew  not 
you  were  here.  I  came,  at  the  command  of  the 
Countess  of  Viteau,  to  get  for  her  certain  garments 
and  needful  goods  belonging  to  herself  and  ladies, 
which  she  could  not,  with  convenience,  take  with  her 
to  the  castle,  but  which,  I  suppose,  if  your  tale  be 
true,  I  shall  go  back  without." 

"  Not  so,"  said  Michol.  "  I  war  not  on  fair  ladies, 
until  they  themselves  declare  the  war.  You  shall 
come  in,  and  take  away  what  your  lady  needs.  That 
is,  if  you  fear  not  to  enter  alone." 

These  words  made  the  squire  turn  pale.  He  was 
afraid  to  trust  himself,  alone,  inside  the  walls  of  the 
chateau  court-yard,  but  he  was  ashamed  to  own  it — ■ 
ashamed  that  his  own  men  should  see  his  fear,  01 
that  Michol  should  see  it.  And  so,  out  of  very 
cowardice  and  fear  of  mockery,  he  did  a  thing  which 
was  exceedingly  brave,  and  entered  by  the  wicket  in 
the  gate,  which  Michol  opened  for  him. 

Inside  the  court  and  in  the  chateau,  the  squire  saw, 


102,  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

as  Michol  was  very  glad  to  have  him  see,  hundreds 
of  cotereaux,  well  armed,  and  in  a  good  state  of  disci- 
pline, and  he  felt  sure,  at  last,  that  the  tale  he  had 
been  told  was  true. 

The  articles  he  had  been  sent  for  were  all  delivered 
to  him,  and  properly  packed  by  Michol's  men  for 
conveyance  on  the  baggage-horses  that  had  been 
brought  for  the  purpose.  Then  the  goods  were 
carried  out,  and  the  squire  was  allowed  to  depart, 
without  hurt  or  hindrance. 

Provisions  were  sent  outside  the  gates  for  the  squire 
and  his  men  and  horses,  and  that  night  they  bivouacked 
by  the  roadside. 

The  next  morning  they  rode  back  to  Barran's  castle, 
and  the  squire  delivered  to  the  Countess  the  property 
he  had  been  sent  for,  and  told  the  wonderful  tale 
that  the  captain  of  the  cotereaux  had  instructed  him 
to  tell. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

rHE  news  of  the  occupation  of  Viteau  by  a  band 
of  robbers,  occasioned,  as  well  might  be  supposed, 
the  greatest  astonishment  at  the  castle  of  Barran.  At 
first,  every,  one,  from  the  Lord  of  the  castle  to  the 
lowest  varlet,  was  loud  in  favor  of  an  immediate  march 
upon  the  scoundrels,  with  all  the  force  that  could  be 
gathered  together  on  the  domain.  But  after  Barran 
had  held  a  consultation  with  the  Countess,  Hugo  de 
Lannes,  and  the  very  sensible  and  prudent  Bernard,  he 
determined  not  to  be  too  hasty  in  this  important 
matter.  If  the  story  of  the  squire  who  had  been  sent 
to  Viteau  was  true, — and  there  was  no  reason  to 
doubt  it, — it  would  require  every  fighting  man  on  the 
estates  of  the  Count  de  Barran  to  make  up  a  force 
sufficiently  strong  to  compel  the  cotereaux  to  leave 
the   chateau;    and   if   this   force  should  not  be   large 

103 


304  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

enough  to  completely  surround  and  invest  the  place, 
the  captain  of  the  robbers  might  make  good  his  threat 
of  burning  the  chateau  and  retreating  to  the  forest, 
which  he  could  probably  reach  in  safety,  if  the  retreat 
should  be  made  in  the  night. 

But,  even  if  the  Count  had  been  able  to  raise  men 
enough  to  make  a  successful  attack  upon  the  cotereaux 
at  Viteau,  he  did  not  wish,  at  this  time,  to  strip  his 
castle  of  all  its  defenders.  If  it  should  be  concluded 
that  the  Countess  should  endeavor  to  escape  to  England, 
a  tolerably  strong  party  might  be  necessary  to  conduct 
her  to  the  coast;  and  if  the  officers  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion should  appear  at  his  gates,  he  would  like  to  be 
there  with  enough  men  to  compel  at  least  parley  and 
delay. 

It  would,  also,  be  difficult  to  hold  the  chateau,  after 
It  should  be  taken,  during  this  serious  quarrel  with 
the  cotereaux.  If  the  lady  of  Viteau  had  been  at 
home,  she  might  have  summoned  many  of  her  vassals 
to  her  aid,  but  it  was  not  to  be  supposed  that  these 
people  would  willingly  risk  their  lives,  and  expose 
their  families  to  the  vengeance  of  the  robbers,  to  defend 
a  dwelling  which  its  owner  had  deserted. 

It  was,  therefore,  determined  not  to  attempt,  at 
present,  to  disturb  the  cotereaux  at  Viteau,  who,  as 
long  as  their  demand  for  a  ransom  for  young  Louis 
was  not  positively  denied,  would  probably  refrain  from 


THE   STORY  OF    VITEAU.  105 

doing  any  serious  injury  to  the  property.  When  the 
Countess  should  be  in  safety,  a  force  could  be  raised 
from  some  of  the  estates,  and  from  villages  in  the 
surrounding  country,  to  thoroughly  defeat  the  cotereaux 
and  to  break  up  their  band.  Suitable  arrangements 
then  could  be  made  to  hold  and  defend  the  chateau 
until  the  Countess  or  her  heirs  should  come  back  to 
take  possession. 

What  was  to  be  done  for  the  unfortunate  mother 
of  Raymond  and  Louis,  now  became  again  the  great 
question.  Flight  to  England,  which,  though  a  Catholic 
country,  was  not  under  the  power  of  the  Inquisition, 
as  were  France  and  some  of  the  neighboring  coun- 
tries, would  have  been  immediately  determined  upon, 
had  it  not  been  for  the  great  unwillingness  of  the 
Countess  to  consent  to  separate  herself  from  her 
sons. 

If  she  should  leave  France  and  take  her  children 
with  her,  her  property  would  probably  be  taken  pos- 
session of  by  the  Church  or  the  Crown ;  whereas,  if 
her  sons,  under  a  proper  guardian,  should  remain  in 
France,  the  estate  would  be  considered  to  belong  to 
them,  for  they  had  done  nothing  to  make  them  forfeit 
it;  and  everything  could  go  on  as  usual,  until  the 
friends  of  the  Countess  should  have  opportunity  to 
represent  the  matter  to  some  of  the  high  authorities 
of  the  Church.      Then,  if  she  could  be  released  from 


106  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

the  prosecution  by  the   Inquisition,  she  could  return 
in  peace  to  her  home. 

On  the  day  after  the  squire's  return  from  Viteau, 
and  after  it  had  been  decided  to  leave  the  cotereaux 
in  possession  for  the  present,  Raymond  and  Louis, 
with  Agnes,  were  sitting  together  at  a  window  in  o- 
of  the  great  towers  of  the  castle,  talking  of  the  p1 
posed  journey  of  the  Countess;  Louis  had  been  ton, 
the  reason  of  her  flight  from  Viteau,  and,  of  course, 
Agnes  knew  all  about  it. 

"  If  I  were  the  Count  de  Barran,"  said  Louis,  very 
much  in  earnest,  "  I  should  never  make  a  lady,  like 
our  mother,  run  away  to  England,  nor  to  any  other 
savage  country,  to  get  rid  of  her  enemies.  I  should 
fill  this  castle  with  soldiers  and  knights,  and  I'd  defend 
her  against  everybody,  to  the  last  drop  of  my  blood. 
Wasn't  Barran  the  brother-in-arms  of  our  father? 
And  isn't  he  bound,  by  all  his  vows,  to  protect  our 
mother,  when  her  husband  isn't  here  on  earth  to  do 
it  himself?" 

"  You  don't  look  at  things  in  the  right  way,  Louis," 
said  Raymond.  "  Of  course,  the  Count  would  defend 
our  mother  against  all  enemies,  for  he  is  a  brave  and 
true  knight;  but  we  can  not  say  that  the  priests  and 
officers  of  the  Church  are  our  enemies.  Now,  if  Bar- 
ran  fights  the  people  of  the  Inquisition,  he  is  fighting 
the  Church,  and  no  Christian  knight  wants  to  do  that." 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  IO/ 

"  I'd  like  to  know  what  an  enemy  is,"  said  Louis, 
''If  he  isn't  a  person  who  wants  to  do  you  an  injury; 
and  that,  it  seems  to  me,  is  exactly  what  these  Inquisi- 
tion people  are  trying  to  do  to  our  mother.  I  shouldn't 
care  whether  they  belonged  to  the  Church  or  not." 

"  Oh,  yes,  you  would,"  said  Raymond,  "  if  you  had 
taken  the  vows  of  a  Christian  knight.  The  Count 
will  do  everything  he  can  to  save  our  mother  from 
these  people,  but  he  will  not  want  to  fight  and  slay 
Church  officers,  and  his  men-at-arms  would  not  help 
him, — I  heard  Count  de  Lannes  say  that, — for  who- 
ever should  do  such  a  thing  would  be  excommunicated 
by  the  Pope  of  Rome,  and  would  be  cast  out  from 
all  Christian  fellowship  and  all  hope  of  salvation. 
Our  mother  would  not  let  any  one  fight  for  her, 
when  she  should  know  that  such  things  would  happen 
to  him." 

"Bernard  would  fight  for  her,"  said  Louis;  "and  so 
would  I." 

"And  so  would  I,  as  well  you  know,"  said  his 
brother,  "and  so  would  the  Count  and  many  another 
knight,  if  things  came  to  the  worst.  They  would  not 
stop  to  think  what  would  happen  afterward.  But  it 
would  be  a  sad  thing  to  do.  It  would  be  much  better 
for  our  mother  to  go  away,  than  to  put  her  friends  in 
such  jeopardy  of  their  souls.  I  have  heard  all  this 
talked  about,  and  I  know  how  hard  a  thing  it  is  for 


108  THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

the  Count  to  send  our  mother  away.  But  one  thing 
is  certain:  when  she  goes,  I  go  with  her.  I  care  not 
for  the  domain." 

"  And  I  go  too ! "  cried  Louis.  "  Let  the  robbers 
and  the  priests  divide  Viteau  between  them.  I  will 
not  let  my  mother  go  among  the  barbarians  with- 
out me." 

"The  English  are  not  barbarians,"  said  Raymond. 
"There  are  plenty  of  good  knights  and  noble  ladies 
at  the  court  of  King  Henry,  and  all  over  the  land, 
too,  as  I  have  read." 

"  I  thought  they  must  be  savages,"  said  Louis, 
"  because  they  have  no  Inquisition.  Surely,  if  England 
were  a  Christian  land  like  France,  there  would  be  an 
Inquisition  there." 

Up  to  this  time  Agnes  had  been  silent,  eagerly 
listening  to  the  conversation  of  the  boys.  But  now 
she  spoke : 

"  Louis  and  Raymond ! "  she  cried,  "  I  think  it  will 
be  an  awful,  dreadful  thing  for  your  poor  mother  to 
go  to  England;  I  don't  care  what  sort  of  a  country 
it  is,  or  who  goes  with  her.  Isn't  there  somebody 
who  can  make  these  people  stop  their  wicked  doings 
without  fighting  them?     Can't  the  King  do  it?" 

"  Of  course  he  can,"  cried  Louis.  "  The  King  can 
do  anything." 

"  Perhaps  he  can,"  said  Raymond.     "  I  spoke  to  my 


AGNES   TELLS    RAYMOND   AND   LOUIS   OF   HER    PLAN. 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  IO9 

mother  about  that  this  morning,  and  asked  her  why 
Count  de  Barran  did  not  go  to  the  King  and  beseech 
him  to  inquire  into  this  matter,  and  to  see  why  one 
of  his  subjects — as  good  a  Christian  as  any  in  the 
land — should  be  so  persecuted.  She  said  I  spoke  too 
highly  of  her " 

"  Which  you  did  not,"  cried  Louis. 

"  Indeed,  I  did  not,"  continued  Raymond.  "  And 
then  she  told  me  that  the  mother  of  our  King,  Queen 
Blanche,  who  has  more  to  do  with  the  affairs  of  France 
than  her  son  himself,  does  not  like  Barran,  who,  with 
our  father,  opposed  her  long  with  voice  and  sword,  in 
the  disputes  between  Burgundy  and  the  Crown.  So  it 
is  that  he  could  not  go  to  ask  a  favor  of  her  son,  for 
fear  that  it  would  do  us  more  harm  than  good." 

"  But  is  he  the  only  person  in  the  world  ? "  cried 
Agnes.  "Why  can't  somebody  else  go.  Why  don't 
you  go,  Raymond,  with  Louis — and  with  me  ?  Let 
us  all  three  go !  We  can  tell  the  King  what  has 
happened,  as  well  as  any  one,  and  the  Queen-Mother 
can  not  bear  a  grudge  against  any  of  us.  Let  us  go! 
My  father  will  not  say  me  nay." 

Louis  agreed  instantly  to  this  glorious  plan,  and 
Raymond,  after  a  moment's  thought,  gave  it  a  hearty 
assent. 

"We'll  start  by  the  dawn  of  day  to-morrow,"  cried 
Agnes;    and  away   she  ran   to   ask   her  father  if  she 


IIO  THE  STORY  OP   VITEAU. 

might  mount  a  horse,  and  go  with  Louis  and  Raymond 
to  Paris,  to  see  the  King. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  this  wild  plan  of  the  children 
was  received  with  favor  by  their  elders.  Something 
must  be  done  immediately,  and  the  Countess  must 
either  leave  France,  or  some  powerful  aid  must  be 
asked  for.  Measures  had  been  taken  to  put  the 
matter  before  some  of  the  high  officials  of  the  Church, 
but  it  was  believed  that  they  would  first  send  for 
Brother  Anselmo  and  the  priests,  and  would  hear 
their  story,  before  interfering  for  the  Countess ;  and, 
therefore,  whatever  help  might  be  expected  in  this 
direction,  would  probably  be  much  delayed  and  come 
too  late. 

But  if  the  King  should  desire  it,  the  matter  would 
be  instantly  investigated,  and  that  was  all  that  the 
Countess  and  her  friends  intended  to  ask.  They  felt 
sure  that  if  some  one,  more  competent  and  less 
prejudiced  than  the  two  or  three  monks  who  had  been 
incensed  by  their  failure  to  answer  her  arguments, 
should  examine  the  charges  against  her,  it  would  be 
found  that  she  believed  nothing  but  what  was  taught 
by  the  fathers  of  the  Church,  and  believed  in  by  all 
good  people  who  had  read  what  the  authors  had 
written. 

And  who  could  go  with  better  grace  to  ask  the 
help   of  the   King — himself  young — than    these    three 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  Ill 

young  people:  two  boys  who  would  speak  in  behalf 
of  their  mother,  and  the  young  girl,  their  friend,  who 
might  be  able  to  talk  with  the  Queen-Mother,  if  there 
should  be  need  of  it? 

Count  Hugo  de  Lannes  readily  agreed  to  take 
charge  of  the  young  embassadors,  if  his  daughter 
should  be  one  of  them.  He  was  well  known  in  Paris, 
and  could  give  them  proper  introduction  and  guarantee 
their  statements.  Thus  his  assistance  would  be  very 
great. 

It  was  agreed  that  by  dawn  the  next  morning,  just 
as  Agnes  had  said,  the  party  should  start  for  Paris, 
and  that,  until  its  return,  the  Countess  should  post- 
pone her  flight  from  France. 

And  many  earnest  prayers  were  said  that  night,  that 
nothing  evil  might  happen  to  the  Countess  while  her 
two  boys  should  be  absent  from  her. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE  cavalcade,  which  started  from  the  castle  early 
the  next  morning,  was  a  gay  and  lively  one,  for 
everybody  seemed  to  think  that  it  would  soon  return, 
with  happy  news. 

At  the  head  rode  Count  de  Lannes,  and,  at  his 
side,  Sir  Charles  de  Villars,  a  younger  knight,  visit- 
ing at  the  castle,  who  had  volunteered  his  services 
to  help  defend  the  party,  should  it  be  attacked  on  the 
way. 

Next  came  the  three  young  people,  each  mounted 
on  a  small  Arabian  horse,  from  the  castle  stables. 
After  them  came  two  women,  in  attendance  on  Agnes ; 
and  then  followed  quite  a  long  line  of  squires,  pages, 
and  men-at-arms,  with  servants  carrying  the  heavy 
armor  of  the  two  knights,  all  mounted  and  armed. 

It  was   calculated   that   the  journey  to  Paris  would 

112 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  113 

take  about  four  days,  if  they  pressed  on  as  fast  as 
the  strength  of  the  horses  and  that  of  the  young 
riders  would  permit;  and  as  it  was  desirable  to  be 
back  as  soon  as  possible,  they  rode  away  at  a  good 
pace. 

Some  distance  in  advance  of  the  whole  party  were 
two  men-at-arms,  whose  duty  it  was,  when  passing 
through  forests,  or  among  rocks  and  hills,  where  an 
enemy  might  be  concealed,  to  give  timely  notice  of 
any  signs  of  danger.  The  Count  de  Lannes  did  not 
expect  any  attack  from  robbers,  for  he  felt  quite  sure 
that  the  cotereaux  who  had  been  in  the  neighborhood 
were  all  engaged  in  the  occupation  of  Viteau. 

But  he  did  not  know  as  much  about  the  robber 
bands  of  Burgundy  as  he  thought.  A  short  time 
before,  there  had  come  into  the  country,  between 
Barran's  castle  and  Viteau,  a  company  of  brabancois 
— freebooters  of  somewhat  higher  order  than  the 
cotereaux,  who  generally  preferred  to  be  soldiers  rather 
than  thieves,  but  who,  in  times  of  peace,  when  no  one 
would  hire  them  as  soldiers,  banded  together,  stopped 
travelers  on  the  highway,  and  robbed  and  stole  when- 
ever they  had  a  chance.  They  were  generally  better 
armed  and  disciplined,  and  therfore  more  formidable, 
than  the  cotereaux,  or  the  routiers,  who  were  robbers 
of  a  lower  order  than  either  of  the  other  two. 

These  brabancois,  when  Michol  was  making  up  his 


114  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

force  with  which  to  seize  and  hold  the  chateau  of 
Viteau,  offered  to  join  him,  but  he  declined  their  pro- 
position, believing  that  he  had  men  enough  for  his 
purpose,  and  not  wishing,  in  any  case,  to  bring  into 
the  chateau  a  body  of  fellows  who  might,  at  any  time, 
refuse  to  obey  his  rule,  and  endeavor  to  take  matters 
into  their  own  hands. 

The  captain  of  the  band  of  brabancois,  when  he 
found  that  he  would  not  be  allowed  to  take  part  in 
the  ransom  speculation  at  Viteau,  moved  up  nearer  the 
castle  of  Barran,  and  sent  one  of  his  men,  dressed  like 
a  common  varlet  or  servant,  to  take  service  with  the 
Count,  as  an  assistant  in  the  stables  and  among  the 
horses.  In  this  occupation  he  would  learn  of  the 
intended  departure  of  any  party  from  the  castle,  and 
could  give  his  leader  such  information  as  he  could 
manage  to  pick  up  about  the  road  to  be  taken,  and 
the  strength  and  richness  of  the  company. 

So  it  was  that,  on  the  night  of  the  day  on  which 
the  expedition  to  Paris  was  determined  upon,  and 
after  orders  had  been  given  to  have  the  necessary 
horses  ready  early  the  next  morning,  this  fellow  got 
away  from  the  castle,  and  told  his  captain  all  he  knew 
about  the  party — who  were  to  go  and  which  way  they 
were  going. 

It  was  not  likely  that  the  company  under  the  charge 
of   Count    de    Lannes   would   carry   much   money,  or 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  1 1 5 

valuable  baggage  of  any  sort,  and,  therefore,  the  enter- 
prise of  waylaying  these  people  on  the  road  did  not 
appear  very  attractive  to  the  leader  of  the  robbers, 
until  he  heard  that  Louis,  and  Jasto,  who  was  to  go 
with  the  boy  as  servant,  were  to  be  of  the  party.  Then 
he  took  a  great  interest  in  the  matter.  If  he  could 
capture  Louis,  he  could  interfere  with  Michol  in  getting 
the  ransom  he  demanded,  and  so  force  himself,  in  this 
way,  into  partnership  with  the  prudent  captain  of  the 
cotereaux ;  and  if  he  could  take  Jasto,  of  whose  exploits 
he  had  heard,  he  felt  sure  that  Michol  would  pay  a 
moderate  ransom  to  get  possession  of  that  traitor  to  his 
cause  and  his  companions. 

Therefore,  principally  to  capture,  if  possible,  these 
two  important  and  perhaps  profitable  personages,  the 
band  of  robbers  set  out  before  daylight,  and  took 
a  good  position  for  their  purpose  on  that  road  to 
Paris. 

It  was  nearly  noon  when  the  cavalcade  of  our  friends 
entered  a  wide  and  lonely  forest,  where  the  road  was 
thickly  overgrown,  on  each  side,  with  bushes  and 
clambering  vines.  It  was  an  excellent  place  for  an 
ambuscade,  and  here  the  brabancois  were  ambuscaded. 

Count  Hugo  de  Lannes  was  a  prudent  man,  and  he 
proceeded  slowly,  on  entering  the  forest,  giving  orders 
to  his  scouts  to  be  very  careful  in  looking  out  for 
signs  of  concealed  marauders. 


Il6  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

He  also  called  up  the  men  who  carried  the  heavy 
armor,  and  he  and  Sir  Charles  proceeded  to  put  on 
their  helmets  and  their  coats  of  mail,  so  as  to  be  ready 
for  anything  which  might  happen  during  their  passage 
through  the  forest. 

They  were  prepared  none  too  soon,  for  the  scouts 
came  riding  back,  just  as  Count  Hugo  had  exchanged 
his  comfortable  cap,  or  bonnet,  for  his  iron  head- 
covering,  with  the  news  that  men  were  certainly  con- 
cealed in  the  woods  some  hundred  yards  ahead. 

Quickly  the  two  knights,  with  the  assistance  of  their 
squires,  finished  putting  on  their  armor,  and  each 
hung  his  battle-ax  at  his  saddle-bow.  Their  long 
swords  they  wore  at  all  times  when  riding.  Then 
Count  Hugo,  turning,  gave  rapid  orders  for  the  dispo- 
sition of  his  force. 

Part  of  the  men-at-arms,  all  ready  for  battle,  drew 
up  before  the  young  travelers,  and  part  took  their  place 
in  their  rear.  On  either  side  of  each  of  the  boys,  and 
of  Agnes  and  her  women,  rode  a  soldier  in  mail, 
holding  his  shield  partly  over  the  head  of  his  charge. 
Thus  each  of  these  non-combatants  was  protected  by 
two  shields,  and  by  the  bodies  of  two  mail-clad  men, 
from  the  arrows  which  might  be  showered  upon  them 
should  a  fight  take  place. 

All  these  arrangements  were  rapidly  made,  for  the 
men  of  the  party  were  well -trained  soldiers,  and  then 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  WJ 

Count  Hugo  and  Sir  Charles  rode  forward  to  see 
what  they  could  see. 

They  saw  a  good  deal  more  than  they  expected. 
As  they  went  around  a  slight  bend  in  the  road,  they 
perceived,  a  short  distance  ahead,  three  mounted  men 
in  armor,  drawn  up  across  the  road.  Behind  them 
were  a  number  of  other  men,  with  spears  and  pikes. 
And  in  the  woods,  on  either  side,  were  a  number  of 
archers,  who,  though  they  could  not  be  seen,  made 
their  presence  known  by  a  flight  of  arrows,  which 
rattled  briskly  on  the  armor  of  our  two  horsemen, 
and  then  fell  harmless  to  the  ground. 

If  this  volley  and  this  brave  show  of  force  were 
intended  to  intimidate  the  travelers,  and  to  cause 
them  to  fall  back  in  confusion,  it  did  not  have  the 
desired  effect. 

Turning  to  their  squires,  who  followed  close  behind 
them,  the  two  knights  called  for  their  lances,  and 
when,  almost  at  the  same  instant,  these  trusty  weapons 
were  put  into  their  hands,  they  set  them  in  rest,  and, 
without  a  moment's  hesitation,  charged  down  upon 
the  three  horsemen. 

Count  Hugo  was  an  old  soldier,  and  had  been  in  many 
a  battle,  where,  fighting  on  the  side  of  the  Crown,  he 
had  met  in  combat  some  of  the  bravest  soldiers  of 
France  and  many  of  the  finest  knights  of  England, 
whom    King    Henry    III.    had    sent    over   to   aid   the 


Il8  THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

provinces  which  were  resisting  Queen  Blanche;  and 
Sir  Charles,  although  a  younger  man,  had  met  and 
conquered  many  a  stout  knight  in  battle  and  in  tour- 
nament. 

Therefore,  although  the  brabancois  horsemen  were 
good,  strong  soldiers,  and  well  armed,  and  although 
all  three  of  them  put  themselves  in  readiness  to 
receive  the  charge  of  the  knights,  they  could  not 
withstand  or  turn  aside  the  well-directed  lances  of 
these  veteran  warriors,  and  two  of  them  went  down 
at  the  first  shock,  unhorsed  and  helpless. 

The  other  man,  reining  back  his  horse  a  little 
way,  charged  furiously  on  Count  Hugo,  who  was 
nearest  him;  but  the  latter  caught  the  end  of  his 
lance  on  his  shield,  and  then,  dropping  his  own  lance, 
he  seized  his  battle-ax,  rose  in  his  stirrups,  and 
brought  the  ponderous  weapon  down  upon  the  iron- 
clad head  of  his  assailant,  with  such  a  tremendous 
whang  that  he  rolled  him  off  his  horse  at  the  first 
crack. 

Upon  this,  both  knights  were  attacked  at  once  by 
the  spearsmen  and  other  men  on  foot,  but  so  com- 
pletely and  strongly  were  the  Count  and  Sir  Charles 
clad  in  their  steel  mail  that  their  opponents  found  no 
crevice  or  unguarded  spot  through  which  their  rapidly 
wielded  weapons  could  penetrate. 

But  the   knights   gave   them   little   time  to    try  the 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  119 

strength  of  their  armor,  for  whirling  their  battle-axes 
over  their  heads,  and  followed  by  their  squires,  they 
charged  through  the  whole  body  of  the  foot-soldiers, 
and  then,  turning,  charged  back  again,  driving  the 
brabancois  right  and  left  into  the  woods. 

Meantime,  all  had  not  been  quiet  in  the  rear.  The 
captain  of  the  robbers,  as  soon  as  he  had  seen  the 
knights  engaged  with  his  picked  men,  had  come  out 
of  the  woods  with  a  strong  force  of  his  followers  on 
foot,  and  had  made  a  vigorous  attack  on  our  young 
travelers  and  their  attendants. 

Here  the  fighting  was  general  and  very  lively. 
Arrows  flew;  swords,  spears,  and  shields  rattled  and 
banged  against  each  other ;  horses  reared  and  plunged ; 
the  women  screamed,  the  men  shouted,  and  Raymond 
and  Louis  drew  the  small  swords  they  wore,  and 
struggled  hard  to  throw  themselves  into  the  middle 
of  the    fight. 

But  this  was  of  no  use.  Their  mailed  and  mounted 
guardians  pressed  them  closely  on  either  side,  and 
protected  them  from  every  blow  and  missile. 

Little  Agnes  was  as  pale  as  marble.  Every  arrow, 
as  it  struck  against  the  shields  and  armor  about  hen 
made  her  wink  and  start,  but  she  sat  her  horse  like  a 
brave  girl,  and  made  no  outcry,  though  her  women 
rilled  the  air  with  their  screams. 

There    were   so   many  of  the   brabancois,  and  they 


120  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

directed  their  attacks  with  such  energy  on  the  one 
point,  that  it  seemed  for  a  time  as  if  they  certainly 
must  get  possession  of  one  or  all  of  the  children. 
Three  men  had  pulled  aside  the  horse  of  Louis's 
protector  on  the  left,  and  others  were  forcing  them- 
selves between  the  soldier  and  the  boy,  with,  the 
evident  intention  of  dragging  the  latter  from  his 
horse. 

But  the  fight  at  the  head  of  the  line  was  over 
sooner  than  the  captain  of  the  robbers  expected  it 
would  be.  His  men  had  scarcely  reached  Louis's 
side  when  Count  Hugo  and  Sir  Charles  came 
charging  back. 

Straight  down  each  side  of  the  road  they  came. 
Their  own  men,  seeing  them  come,  drew  up  in  a  close 
column  along  the  middle  of  the  road,  and  before  the 
brabancois  knew  what  was  going  to  happen,  the  two 
knights  were  upon  them.  Standing  up  in  their  stirrups, 
and  dealing  tremendous  blows  with  their  battle-axes 
as  they  dashed  along,  they  rode  into  the  robbers  on 
each  side  of  the  road,  cutting  them  down,  or  making 
them  wildly  scatter  into  the  woods.  As  the  knights 
passed,  some  of  the  men-at-arms  left  their  line  and, 
rushing  into  the  woods,  drove  their  enemies  com- 
pletely off  the  field. 

At  least  they  supposed  that  this  was  the  case;  but, 
when  Count  Hugo  and  Sir  Charles  had  turned  and  had 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  121 

ridden  back  to  the  young  people  and  the  women,  and 
were  anxiously  inquiring  if  any  of  them  had  been 
injured  during  the  affray,  a  cry  from  Louis  directed 
everybody's  attention  to  a  new  fight,  which  was  going 
on  at  the  rear  of  the  line. 

"  Jasto  !"  cried  Louis.     "  They  are  taking  Jasto  !" 

The  boy  had  happened  to  look  back,  and  saw  his 
friend  of  the  robber-camp,  whose  horse  had  been 
killed,  struggling  on  foot  with  four  men,  one  of  whom 
was  the  captain  of  the  brabancois.  They  were,  appa- 
rently, endeavoring  to  drag  him  into  the  bushes ;  Jasto, 
who  was  a  very  stout  fellow,  was  holding  back  manfuLly, 
but  the  others  were  too  strong  for  him,  and  were  forcing 
him  along.  No  one  of  the  Count's  party  was  near, 
except  a  few  men  who  had  charge  of  the  baggage 
horses,  and  these  were  too  busy  with  their  frightened 
animals  to  take  any  notice  of  the  re-appearance  of  some 
of  the  robbers. 

"  Help  him !"  cried  Louis.  "  Don't  let  them  take  Jasto 
away !" 

Count  Hugo  turned,  as  he  heard  the  boy's  cry,  but 
little  Agnes  was  close  by  his  side,  trying  to  get  her 
arms  around  his  iron  neck,  and  several  horsemen  were 
crowded  up  near  him,  so  that  he  could  not  clearly  see 
what  was  going  on  in  the  rear.  A  few  of  the  men-at- 
arms  saw  the  affair,  and  rode  toward  the  scene  of  the 
unequal  contest,  but   Jasto    would  certainly  have   been 

6 


122  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

dragged   into     the     thicket    before    they    could    have 
reached  him. 

Sir  Charles,  however,  was  sitting  on  his  horse,  on  the 
outside  of  the  group  around  the  children,  and  when  he 
heard  the  alarm  and  saw  the  struggle,  he  immediately- 
galloped  to  the  rear.  He  did  not  know  who  Jasto 
was,  but  he  saw  that  one  man  was  contending  with 
four  others,  whom  he  perceived,  by  their  appearance 
and  arms,  to  be  members  of  the  robber  band.  As  he 
rode,  he  put  his  hand  on  his  long  sword  to  draw  it,  but 
he  instantly  saw  that,  if  he  struck  at  any  one  in  that 
twisting  and  writhing  knot  of  men,  he  would  be  as  likely 
to  kill  the  Count's  follower  as  one  of  the  robbers ;  and 
so  he  dashed  up,  and  seized  Jasto  by  the  collar  with  his 
mailed  hand.  Then,  reining  in  his  horse  vigorously,  he 
suddenly  backed.  The  jerk  he  gave  in  this  way  was 
so  powerful  that  it  almost  pulled  Jasto  out  of  the  hands 
of  his  captors.  He  was  so  far  released,  indeed,  that, 
had  the  right  hand  of  Sir  Charles  been  free,  he  would 
have  been   able   to  cut   down   the  robbers. 

But  as  he  still  held  Jasto  in  his  iron  grasp,  and  pre- 
pared to  back  again,  the  robber  captain,  seeing  that,  in 
a  moment,  his  captive  would  be  torn  from  him,  and 
infuriated  by  the  idea  that  he  would  lose  everything, 
even  the  chance  of  some  ransom  money  from  the 
captain  of  the  cotereaux,  drew  from  his  belt  a  great, 
Veavy  knife,  almost  as  long  as  a  sword  and  very  broad, 


THE   STORY    OF    VITEAU.  1 23 

and  with  this  terrible  weapon  aimed  a  blow  at  Jasto's 
head. 

"  Traitor !"  he  cried.  "  If  I  can't  take  you,  you  can 
take  that !" 

But  Jasto  did  not  take  anything  of  the  kind ;  for,  at  the 
instant  that  the  robber  made  the  blow,  two  arrows  from 
the  archers,  who  were  coming  up,  and  who  saw  that  the 
only  chance  of  saving  Jasto  was  a  quick  shot,  struck  the 
robber  captain  in  the  side  of  the  head,  and  the  knife 
dropped  harmlessly  by  Jasto's  side,  while  the  robber  fell 
back  dead.  Instantly  the  other  brabancois  took  to  their 
heels,  and  Sir  Charles  released  the  red  and  panting 
Jasto. 

"  Heigho  !"  cried  the  knight.  "  Surely  I  cannot  mis- 
take that  round  face  and  those  stout  legs !  This  must 
be  Jasto ;  my  old  follower  and  man  of  learning !  Why, 
good  letter  writer,  I  knew  not  what  had  become  of  you, 
and  I  have  often  missed  you  sorely." 

Jasto  recognized  his  old  master,  and,  indeed,  he  had 
recognized  him  as  soon  as  he  had  seen  him  in  Barran's 
castle,  but  he  had  not  wished  to  make  himself  known, 
fearing  that  Sir  Charles  might  interfere  in  some  way 
with  his  plan  of  demanding  a  reward  for  the  return  of 
Louis.  Now,  he  would  have  spoken,  but  he  was  too 
much  exhausted  and  out  of  breath  to  say  a  word.  He 
merely  panted  and  bobbed  his  head,  and  tried  to  look 
grateful  for  his  deliverance, 


124  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

"  No  need  of  speaking  now,"  said  the  knight,  laugh- 
ing. "  When  the  breath  comes  back  into  your  body,  I 
will  see  you  again,  and  hear  your  story.  And,  I  doubt 
not,  I  shall  soon  have  need  to  call  on  you  to  use  your 
pen  and  ink  for  me.  If  we  stay  long  in  Paris,  I  surely 
shall  so  need  you." 

But  now  orders  were  given  to  form  into  line  and 
move  onward,  and  Sir  Charles  galloped  up  to  his  place 
by  Count  Hugo.  The  order  of  marching  was  taken 
up  as  before,  and  the  party,  leaving  the  dead  and 
wounded  brabancois  to  be  cared  for  by  their  compa- 
nions, who  were  doubtless  hiding  in  the  forest  near  by, 
rode  cautiously  on  until  they  cleared  the  woods,  and 
then  they  proceeded  on  their  way  as  rapidly  and  com- 
fortably as  possible.  But  few  of  the  men-at-arms  had 
been  wounded,  and  none  seriously. 

The  two  boys  and  Agnes  were  in  high  good  spirits  as 
they  galloped  along.  Agnes  was  proud  of  her  father's 
bravery  and  warlike  deeds,  and  Raymond  and  his 
brother  were  as  excited  and  exultant  as  if  they  had  won 
a  victory  themselves.  Louis  woufd  have  ridden  back  to 
see  if  his  friend  Jasto  had  been  injured,  but  this  was  not 
allowed.  He  was  told  that  the  man  was  safe  and  sound, 
and  had  to  be  satisfied  with  that  assurance. 

As  for  Jasto  himself,  he  rode  silently  among  the 
baggage  men,  having  been  given  a  horse  captured  from 
the  brabancois. 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  1 25 

For  once  in  his  life,  he  was  thoroughly  ashamed  of 
himself,  and  two  things  weighed  upon  his  mind.  In 
the  midst  of  his  struggles  with  the  robbers,  and  when 
he  had  felt  certain  that  they  would  overpower  him  and 
take  him  back  to  Michol,  by  whom  he  would  be  cruelly 
punished  and  perhaps  slain,  he  had  heard  that  shrill 
young  voice  calling  for  help  for  Jasto. 

"  And  yet,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  I  am  following  that 
boy  about  and  keeping  in  his  company,  solely  that  I  may, 
some  day,  have  the  chance  of  claiming  pay  for  freeing 
him  from  the  cotereaux,  to  which  bad  company  I  should 
have  gone  back  this  day  if  it  had  not  been  for  him.  For 
had  he  not  called  for  help  none  would  have  come  to  me. 
I  owe  him  my  freedom  now,  and  as  he  is  worth  surely 
twice  as  much  as  I  am,  I  will  charge  his  friends  but  half 
the  sum  I  had  intended.  And  I  shall  think  about  the 
other  half.  But  a  poor  man  must  not  let  his  gratitude 
hinder  his  fortune.      I   shall   think   of   that   too. 

"  But  as  for  Sir  Charles,  who  has  saved  my  life  to-day, 
and  who  was  ever  of  old  a  good  master  to  me,  I  shall 
never  deceive  him  more.  I  shall  either  tell  him  boldly 
that  I  can  not  write  a  letter  any  more  than  he  can 
himself,  or  I  shall  learn  to  read  and  write.  And  that  last 
is  what  I  shall  surely  do,  if  I  can  find  monk  or  clerk  to 
teach  me  and  he  ask  not  more  pay  than  I  have  money." 

With  these  comforting  resolutions  Jasto's  face  bright- 
ened up,  and  raising  his  head,  as  if  he  felt  like  a  man 


126  THE   STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

again,  he  left  the  company  of  the  baggage,  and  rode 
forward  among  the  men-at-arms. 

That  night  our  travelers  rested  in  a  village,  and  the 
next  day  they  came  to  the  river  Yonne,  along  the 
banks  of  which  their  road  lay  for  a  great  part  of  the 
rest  of  their  journey. 

They  passed  through  Sens,  a  large  town,  in  which 
there  lived  a  bishop,  to  whom  their  errand  might  have 
been  made  known  had  not  there  been  reason  to  fear 
that  such  an  application  might  injure  the  cause  of  the 
Countess  more  than  it  would  benefit  it,  and  then  they 
crossed  the  Seine  and  passed  through  Melun  and  several 
small  towns  and  villages ;  and,  late  in  the  afternoon  of 
the  fourth  day,  they  rode  into  Paris,  with  dusty  clothes 
and  tired  horses,  but  with  hearts  full  of  hope. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

IT  MUST  not  be  supposed  that  the  officers  of  the 
Inquisition  and  the  monks  of  the  monastery  which, 
as  has  been  mentioned  before,  stood  a  few  miles  from 
Viteau,  were  all  this  time  ignorant  of  the  fact  that, 
when  the  Countess  of  Viteau  fled  from  her  home, 
she  took  refuge  in  the  castle  of  the  Count  de 
Barran. 

It  was  not  many  days  before  this  was  known  at  the 
monastery.  But  the  officers  had  returned  to  Toulouse 
to  report  their  failure  to  secure  the  person  for  whom 
they  had  been  sent ;  and  the  monk  who  was  dispatched 
with  the  information  that  the  Countess  had  not  fled 
the  country,  as  was  at  first  supposed,  but  had  taken 
refuge  within  a  day's  ride  of  Viteau,  had  a  long  journey 
to  make  to  the  south  of  France ;  while  the  party 
which   was   immediately   dispatched  by  the   Inquisition 

127 


128  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

to  the  castle  of  Barran  had  a  long  journey  to  make 
back  to  him. 

But  it  finally  came,  and  it  was  a  different  party  from 
that  which  had  been  sent  before.  It  was  larger;  it 
contained  many  more  armed  men,  and  it  was  under 
the  control  of  a  leader  who  would  not  give  up  the 
pursuit  of  the  Countess  simply  because  he  should  fail 
to  find  her  in  the  first  place  in  which  he  sought  her. 

About  the  time  that  the  Count  de  Lannes  and  our 
young  friends  entered  Paris,  the  expedition  from  the 
Inquisition  at  Toulouse  reached  the  great  gate  of  the 
castle  of  Barran. 

This  visit  threw  the  Count,  and  those  of  his  house- 
hold who  understood  its  import,  into  a  state  of 
despair  almost  as  great  as  if  it  had  not  been  daily 
feared  and  expected  ever  since  the  Countess  had  come 
to  the  castle. 

The  Count  did  not  know  what  to  do.  He  had 
thought  the  matter  over  and  over,  but  had  never  been 
able  to  make  up  his  mind  as  to  what  his  course  would 
be  in  case  the  officers  should  appear  while  the  Count- 
ess remained  in  his  castle.  He  felt  that  he  could  not 
give  up  this  lady,  the  wife  of  his  old  brother-in-arms, 
who  had  come  to  him  for  protection ;  but  he  could 
not  fight  the  company  that  was  now  approaching,  for 
such  an  act  would  have  been  considered  the  same 
thing   as  fighting  Christianity  itself. 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  1 29 

He  was  in  a  sad  state  of  anxiety  as  he  went  to  the 
gate  to  meet,  in  person,  these  most  unwelcome  visitors, 
and  he  wished  many  times,  as  he  crossed  the  court- 
yard, that  he  had  yielded  to  his  first  impulse  and  had 
insisted  that  the  Countess  should  fly  to  England  while 
there  was  yet  time. 

All  that  the  Count  de  Barran  could  do  was  to  detain 
the  officers  as  long  as  possible  at  the  gate,  and  to 
endeavor  to  induce  them  to  consent  to  a  friendly 
council  before  taking  any  steps  to  arrest  the  Countess. 
If  they  would  do  this,  he  hoped  to  prevail  upon  them 
to  remain  at  the  castle,  with  the  lady  really  under 
their  watch  and  guard,  until  news  should  arrive  from 
Paris. 

But  the  good  squire  Bernard  acted  in  a  very  differ- 
ent way.  He  did  not  believe  in  parleying,  nor  in 
councils.  Ever  since  he  had  come  to  the  castle  he 
had  expected  this  visit,  and  he  had  always  been  ready 
for  it. 

In  five  minutes  from  the  time  that  he  had  seen  the 
officials  approaching  the  castle, — and  his  sharp  eyes 
had  quickly  told  him  who  they  were, — the  Countess 
and  her  women,  the  squire  himself,  and  the  men-at- 
arms  who  had  come  with  them  from  Viteau,  were  in 
their  saddles ;  and,  leaving  the  castle  by  a  lower  gate, 
were  galloping  along  a  forest  road  as  fast  as  their 
horses'  legs  would  carry  them. 

6* 


130  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

The  leader  of  the  party  from  the  Inquisition  would 
not  parley,  and  he  would  listen  to  no  talk  of  councils. 
He  showed  his  credentials,  and  demanded  instant 
entrance;  and  as  soon  as  he  was  inside  the  court-yard, 
he  posted  some  of  his  men  at  every  gate. 

If  the  men  at  the  lower  gate  had  put  their  ears  to 
the  ground,  they  might  have  heard  the  thud  of  horses' 
feet  as  the  Countess  and  her  party  hurried  away  into 
the  depths  of  the  forest. 

The  main  body  of  the  officers  then  entered  the 
castle,  and  the  leader  demanded  to  be  conducted  to  the 
Countess  of  Viteau.  The  Count  de  Barran  did  not 
accompany  him  and  his  men  as  they  mounted  the 
stairs,  but,  downcast  and  wretched,  he  shut  himself 
in  a  lower  room. 

In  a  very  short  time,  however,  the  sound  of  running 
footsteps  and  a  general  noise  and  confusion  brought 
him  quickly  into  the  great  hall,  and  there  he  learned 
that  the  Countess  was  not  in  her  apartments,  and  that 
the  Inquisitors  were  looking  for  her  all  over  the  castle. 
He  instantly  imagined  the  truth,  and  a  little  inquiry 
among  his  people  showed  him  that  he  was  right,  and 
that  the  Countess  had  been  carried  off  by  Bernard. 

"  A  trusty  and  noble  fellow ! "  said  Barran  to  him- 
self, almost  laughing  with  delight  at  this  sudden 
change  in  the  state  of  affairs.  "  But  what  will  he  do  ? 
So  small  a  party,  unprepared  for  a  long  journey,  could 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  131 

not  get  out  of  the  country,  and  these  people  here, 
as  soon  as  they  find  that  the  Countess  has  really 
gone,  will  make  pursuit  in  every  direction.  And  if 
they  overtake  her  it  will  be  all  the  worse  for  the  poor, 
poor  lady." 

Barran  was  right.  When  the  Inquisitors  had  made 
a  rapid  but  thorough  search  of  the  castle,  and  when 
the  angry  leader  had  examined  some  of  the  servants 
and  had  become  convinced  that  the  Countess  had 
again  fled,  almost  from  under  the  very  hands  of  her 
pursuers,  he  sent  out  parties  of  his  horsemen  on  every 
road  leading  from  the  castle,  with  orders  to  thoroughly 
search  the  surrounding  country,  and  to  make  all 
possible  inquiries  of  persons  by  whom  the  fugitives 
might  have  been  seen.  The  leader  himself  remained 
at  the  castle,  to  receive  reports  and  to  send  out  fresh 
horsemen  in  any  direction  which  might  seem  necessary. 
It  was  impossible  that  a  lady  like  the  Countess  could 
have  the  strength  and  endurance  to  ride  so  far  that 
his  tough  and  sturdy  men-at-arms  could  not  overtake 
her.  And  if  she  took  refuge  in  any  house,  castle,  or 
cottage,  he  would  be  sure  to  find  her. 

The  party  of  soldiers  which  left  the  lower  gate  of 
the  castle  and  took  the  road  through  the  forest  were 
mounted  on  swift,  strong  horses,  and  the  Countess  and 
her  company  were  only  a  few  miles  ahead  of  them. 

The  squire    Bernard    did   not   keep    long    upon   the 


132  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

road  he  had  first  taken.  He  knew  that  the  officers 
would  probably  pursue  him  this  time,  and  he  had  seen 
that  their  body  was  composed  of  many  well-mounted 
men.  So  he  felt  that  he  must  bring  into  play,  not 
only  the  fleetness  of  his  horses,  but  his  knowledge  of 
the  country,  if  he  hoped  to  escape  the  soldiers  who 
would  be  sent  after  him. 

Bernard  did  know  the  country  very  well.  He  had 
been  born  in  this  part  of  Burgundy,  and  had,  in  youth 
and  manhood,  thoroughly  explored  these  forests,  not 
only  after  deer  and  other  game,  but  in  expeditions 
with  his  master  and  Barran  against  parties  of  cotereaux 
and  other  thieves  who  at  various  times  had  been 
giving  trouble  in  the  neighborhood. 

About  four  miles  from  the  castle  Bernard  turned 
sharply  to  the  left,  and  rode  into  what,  in  the  rapidly 
decreasing  daylight,  the  Countess  thought  to  be  the 
unbroken  forest.  But  it  was  in  reality  a  footway  wide 
enough  for  a  horse  and  rider,  and  along  this  narrow 
path,  in  single  file,  the  party  pursued  its  way  almost 
as  rapidly  as  on  the  open  road. 

They  had  been  riding  northward;  now  they  turned 
to  the  west,  and  in  a  half  hour  or  so  they  turned 
again,  and  went  southward,  through  a  road  which, 
though  overgrown  and  apparently  disused,  was  open 
and  wide  enough  for  most  of  its  length  to  allow  two 
persons  to  ride  abreast 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  133 

They  went  more  slowly  now,  for  it  was  quite  dark ; 
but  the  squire  led  the  way,  and  they  kept  steadily  on 
all  night. 

At  daybreak  they  reached  what  seemed  to  be  the 
edge  of  the  wood,  and  Bernard  ordered  a  halt.  Bid- 
ding the  rest  of  the  company  remain  concealed 
among  the  trees,  he  dismounted  and  cautiously  made 
his  way  out  of  the  forest. 

Creeping  along  for  a  short  distance  into  the  open 
country,  he  mounted  a  little  hill  and  carefully  sur- 
veyed the  surrounding  fields  and  plains.  Feeling 
certain  that  none  of  their  enemies  were  near  at  hand 
in  the  flat  country  before  them,  Bernard  went  back 
to  the  woods,  got  on  his  horse,  and,  turning  to  the 
Countess,  he  said : 

"  Now,  my  lady,  we  must  make  a  rapid  dash,  and 
in  a  quarter  of  an  hour  we  shall  be  at  our  journey's 
end." 

Without  a  word  the  Countess — who  had  put  herself 
entirely  into  her  faithful  squire's  care,  and  who  had 
found  early  in  the  ride  that  he  wished  to  avoid 
answering  any  questions  in  regard  to  their  destina- 
tion— followed  Bernard  out  of  the  forest,  and  the 
whole  party  began  a  wild  gallop  across  the  fields. 

For  a  few  minutes  they  rode  in  silence,  as  they  had 
been  riding  for  the  greater  part  of  the  night,  and  then 
the  Countess  suddenly  called  out: 


134  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

"  Bernard !  Oh,  Bernard !  Where  are  we  going  ? 
That  is  Viteau  !  " 

"  Yes,"  shouted  back  the  squire.  "  That  is  Viteau, 
and,  by  your  leave,  we  are  going  there.  For  you,  it 
is  the  safest  place  in  France." 

"But  the  cotereaux !  The  cotereaux!"  cried  the 
Countess.     "  It  is  filled  with  those  wicked  men !  " 

"  I  hope  it  is  yet  filled  with  cotereaux"  cried  the 
squire,  still  galloping  on ;  "  for  it  is  those  fellows  who 
will  make  it  safe  for  you.  Fear  them  not,  fair  lady. 
They  want  only  your  money,  and  as  long  as  they 
have  a  good  hope  of  that  they  will  not  harm  you 
nor  yield  you  up  to  any  claimant." 

The  Countess  answered  not  a  word ;  but  very  pale, 
and  trembling  a  little,  she  rode  on,  and  in  a  very 
short  time  the  party  drew  up  before  the  great  gate  of 
Viteau. 

"  Open ! "  cried  Bernard,  "  open  to  the  Countess  of 
Viteau ! " 

Receiving  no  immediate  answer,  Bernard  shouted 
again : 

"  Open !  Open  quickly !  It  is  the  lady  of  this 
chateau  who  asks  admittance.  She  is  pursued !  Open 
quickly !  " 

There  was  now  heard  inside  a  sound  of  running 
and  calling,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  head  of  Michol 
appeared  at  the  window  in  the  gate.     Perceiving  that 


THE  STORY  OF  VITEAU.\  135 

his  visitors  were  but  three  ladies  and  half  a  dozen 
men,  all  looking  very  tired  and  anxious  to  enter, 
and  recognizing  Bernard,  whom  he  had  seen  several 
times  and  with  whose  position  in  the  household  of 
Viteau  he  was  quite  familiar,  he  concluded  that  he 
could  run  no  risk,  and  might  do  himself  much  good, 
by  admitting  the  little  party ;  and  he  therefore  ordered 
the  gate  to  be  opened  and  bade  the  Countess  ride  in. 

The  moment  the  fugitives  had  entered  the  court, 
and  the  gate  had  been  closed  behind  them,  Bernard 
sprang  from  his  horse  exclaiming: 

"  Now,  at  last,  I  can  breathe  at  ease." 

The  Countess,  although  a  good  deal  frightened  at 
her  peculiar  situation,  could  not  help  smiling  at  this 
speech,  considering  that  they  were  surrounded  by  a 
great  crowd  of  armed  men,  known  to  have  in  their 
number  some  of  the  most  notorious  robbers  in  the 
country,  and  who  were  crowding  into  the  court  to  see 
the  visitors,  although  keeping,  by  command  of  their 
captain,  at  a  respectful  distance. 

Bernard  now  approached  Michol,  and  with  the 
utmost  frankness,  concealing  nothing,  he  told  him  all 
about  the  troubles  of  the  Countess  and  why  she  had 
fled  to  his  protection. 

"As  your  object,"  said  the  squire,  "is  the  payment 
of  the  ransom,  for  which  you  have  taken  this  chateau 
as  security,  you  will  not  wish  to  injure  that  lady  by 


136  THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

whom  you  expect  the  money  to  be  collected  and 
paid.  And,  if  I  mistake  not,  until  the  ransom  is  paid 
to  you,  you  will  not  allow  that  lady  to  be  taken  out 
of  your  possession  and  keeping." 

"You  are  a  shrewd  man,  and  a  knowing  one,"  said 
Michol,  with  a  smile,  "and  have  judged  my  temper 
well.  And  yet,"  he  said,  lowering  his  voice,  "you 
must  have  terribly  feared  those  Inquisitors,  to  bring 
that  lady  here." 

"  Fear  them ! "  said  the  squire  in  a  voice  still  lower 
than  the  captain's.  "  Indeed  did  I  fear  them.  Do 
you  know  that  they  would  begin  her  trial  with  the 
torture  ?  " 

Even  the  rough  bandit  gave  a  little  shudder  as  he 
heard  these  words,  and  looked  at  the  gentle  lady 
before   him. 

Advancing  to  her,  and  removing  the  steel  cap  he 
wore,  he  said: 

"  Fair  lady,  you  are  welcome,  as  far  as  I  have 
power  to  bid  you  welcome,  to  this  chateau.  Your 
apartments  have  not  been  molested  nor  disturbed,  and 
you  can  take  immediate  possession  of  them,  with  your 
attendants.  And  you  may  feel  assured  that  here  you 
may  rest  in  safety  from  all  attacks  of  enemies  of  any 
sort,  unless  they  come  in  numbers  sufficient  to  over- 
come my  men  and  carry  these  strong  defenses.  And 
I  promise  you  that  when  the  matters  of  ransom  shall 


THE   STORY  OF  VITEAU.  1 37 

be  settled  between  us,  I  and  my  men  will  march  away 
from  your  estates,  leaving  no  damage  nor  injury 
behind  us,  excepting  your  loss  of  what  we  have  con- 
sumed and  used  for  our  support  and  defense." 

"  Impudent  varlet !  "  said  Bernard  to  himself.  "Your 
hungry  rascals  have  fattened  on  the  possessions  of 
the  Countess,  and  yet  you  talk  in  a  tone  as  large  and 
generous  as  if  you  gave  to  her  what  was  your  own." 

"  Sir,"  said  the  Countess  to  Michol,  u  I  accept  your 
offer  of  protection  until  I  receive  tidings  of  some  sort 
from  my  lord  the  King." 

"  You  shall  certainly  have  it,  fair  dame,"  said 
Michol.  "  My  men  and  I  will  never  stand  and  be 
robbed,  be  the  robber  who  he  may." 

The  Countess  bowed  her  head,  and,  without  having 
heard  all  of  this  remark,  rode  up  to  the  chateau  and 
entered  with  her  party. 


CHAPTER     XIV. 

AS  soon  as  possible  on  the  day  after  the  arrival 
of  his  party  in  Paris,  the  Count  de  Lannes  made 
arrangements  for  an  interview  between  his  young 
embassadors  and  the  King. 

The  seneschal  of  the  palace,  to  whom  Count  Hugo 
was  known,  gave  permission  to  Raymond,  Louis,  and 
Agnes,  with  their  proper  attendants,  to  seek  the  young 
King  in  the  woods  of  Vincennes,  where,  on  fine  days, 
he  generally  walked  with  some  of  his  courtiers,  after 
the  daily  religious  services  which  he  always  attended. 
In  after  years,  when  he  managed  the  affairs  of  his 
kingdom  without  interference  from  Queen  Blanche, 
and  managed  them,  too,  in  such  a  way  as  to  win  for 
himself  the  reputation  of  being  the  most  just  and 
honorable  ruler  that  France  or  Europe  had  ever 
known,  Louis  the  Ninth  used  to  hold  regular  audiences 

13S 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  139 

in  these  beautiful  woods,  where  those  of  his  subjects 
who  desired  to  petition  him  or  speak  with  him  could 
do  so  with"  very  little  ceremony.  And  even  now  the 
young  King  generally  saw  the  few  persons  who  asked 
audience  of  him  in  this  place,  which  was  already 
becoming  his  favorite  promenade. 

Louis,  at  the  time  of  our  story,  was  about  twenty^ 
two  years  old,  but  he  had  been  married  at  nineteen, 
and  was  crowned  when  he  was  but  twelve.  His 
mother,  who  had  been  governing  the  country  so  long, 
still  continued  to  do  so,  and  also  governed  her  son  and 
his  wife,  as  if  they  had  been  small  children.  She  did 
not  even  allow  them  to  see  each  other,  excepting  at 
such  times  as  she  thought  fit. 

This  may  have  been  all  very  well  for  the  nation, 
for  Queen  Blanche  was  a  wise  and  energetic  woman, 
although  very  bigoted  in  regard  to  religious  affairs, 
but  it  must  have  greatly  fretted  the  soul  of  the  young 
monarch,  whose  crown  was  like  an  expensive  toy 
given  to  a  child,  but  put  up  on  a  high  shelf,  where 
he  might  look  at  it  and  call  it  his  own,  but  must 
not  touch  it 

The  Count  de  Lannes  knew  of  all  this,  but  he 
thought  it  well  that  his  young  people  should  address 
themselves  to  the  King,  who,  being  a  young  person 
himself,  and  of  a  very  kind  disposition,  would  be  apt 
to  sympathize  with  them   and  to  take   an   interest  in 


140  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

their  unusual  mission.  Not  being  much  occupied 
with  state  or  other  affairs,  it  might  happen  that  he 
would  give  his  mind  to  this  matter;  and  if  he  could 
do  nothing  himself  he  might  interest  his  mother, 
who  could  do  something. 

It  was  a  bright  and  pleasant  day  when  Raymond, 
Louis,  and  Agnes,  followed  by  a  lady  and  a  page, 
with  Jasto  a  little  farther  behind,  and  Count  Hugo 
and  Sir  Charles  bringing  up  the  rear  at  quite  a  dis- 
tance, were  conducted  to  the  King,  who  was  seated 
under  a  large  tree,  with  three  or  four  of  his  noble 
attendants  standing  around  him. 

When  the  three  children  approached  him,  and  bent 
down  on  their  knees  before  him,  as  they  had  been 
told  they  must  do,  the  King  gave  them  a  smile  of 
welcome,  and  bade  them  stand. 

"  And  now,  my  little  friends,"  he  said,  "  what  is  it 
you  would  have  of  me  ?  " 

Raymond  was  a  straightforward,  honest  boy,  not 
backward  to  speak  when  he  should  do  so,  and  it  had 
been  arranged  that  he  should  be  the  spokesman.  But 
he  had  never  seen  a  king,  even  a  young  one,  and  his 
heart  failed  him.  He  looked  at  Louis,  who,  though 
bold  enough,  could  not  think  of  anything  but  the 
astounding  fact,  which  had  suddenly  struck  upon  his 
mind,  that  this  king  was  not  old  enough  to  be  of  any 
good    to    them.      He    looked    as  young  as   some   of 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  141 

the  pages  at  the  castle.  The  silence  was  a  little 
embarrassing,  and  both  boys  looked  at  Agnes.  She 
did  not  want  to  speak  first,  although  she  doubtless 
expected  to  say  something  on  the  subject,  but  she 
presently  saw  she  would  have  to  begin,  and  so,  with 
a  little  flush  on  her  face,  she  addressed  the  King: 

"May  it  please  you,  sire,"  she  said,  "we  have 
come  to  speak  to  you  about  the  mother  of  these  two 
boys,  who  is  the  Countess  of  Viteau  and  is  in  great 
trouble.  We  came  to  you  because,  as  you  are  the 
King  of  France,  you  can  have  the  wicked  business 
stopped  instantly,  until  some  good  persons  can  look 
into  it;  and  if  we  went  to  any  of  the  bishops  or  the 
people  of  the  Church,  they  would  take  a  long  time 
to  think  about  it,  and  the  poor  lady  might  suffer 
dreadfully  before  they  would  do  a  thing." 

"  I  should  gladly  help  you,  my  fair  little  lady," 
said  the  young  King,  with  a  smile ;  "  but,  on  my 
kingly  honor,  I  can  not  imagine  what  you  would  have 
me  do.  What  is  the  wicked  business,  and  what  have 
bishops  to  do  with  it?  Bishops  are  lofty  personages 
for  such  young  people  as  you  to  deal  with." 

"They  are  not  so  lofty  as  kings,"  remarked  Louis, 
as  the  thought  came  into  his  mind — although, 
indeed,  he  was  not  impressed  with  the  loftiness  of 
any  king  present. 

"  You  are  right,"  said  the  King.     "  Some  kings  are 


142  THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

loftier  than  bishops.  But  come,  one  of  you,  explain 
your  errand,  that  I  may  know  how  a  poor  king  can 
be  more  expeditious  than  a  great  bishop." 

As  the  ice  was  now  broken,  and  as  Raymond  knew 
that  he  could  tell  the  story  better  than  either  of  the 
others,  he  began  it,  and  laid  the  whole  matter,  very 
clearly  and  fully,  before  the  King,  who  listened  to  the 
statement  and  to  the  petition  for  his  interference  with 
much  attention  and  interest. 

"  It  is  a  sad,  sad  tale,"  he  said,  when  he  had  heard 
it  all ;  "  but  I  see  not  what  action  the  King  can  take 
in  a  matter  which  belongs  entirely  to  the  Church,  and 
is  subject  to  the  ecclesiastical  laws  which  extend  over 
France  and  all  Christian  countries.  In  such  things, 
like  my  lowest  subject,  I  am  but  an  humble  follower 
of  our  holy  fathers,  who  know  what  is  good  for  our 
souls." 

"  But  it  is  her  body,  sire,"  exclaimed  Agnes.  "Think 
how  she  may  suffer  before  they  find  out  about  her 
soul !     We  are  not  afraid  for  her  soul." 

The  young  King  smiled  again,  although  he  evidently 
did  not  think  it  proper  to  smile  about  such  subjects. 

"  My  fair  child,"  said  he,  putting  his  hand  on  Agnes's 
head,  "you  seem  to  take  this  matter  as  greatly  to 
heart  as  if  the  lady  was  your  own  mother." 

"  My  own  mother  is  dead,"  said  Agnes,  "  and  I 
fear  that  I  ought  to  be  glad  of  that,  for  she,  too,  was 


•     THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  143 

a  pious  lady,  and  knew  how  to  read;  and  all  these 
things  might  have  been  done  to  her  had  she  lived 
to  see  this  day." 

The  King's  face  grew  serious  at  this,  and  he  was 
silent  for  a  few  moments.  But  presently,  turning  to 
Raymond,  he  said: 

"  Then  what  you  would  have  me  do  is  to  request 
these  proceedings  to  be  stopped,  until  some  learned 
and  pious  man,  with  mind  not  prejudiced  in  this 
affair,  shall  examine  into  your  mother's  belief,  and 
shall  see  if  there  be  cause  or  need  that  she  be  tried 
by  the  Inquisition  ?  " 

"That  is  all,  good  sire,"  said  Raymond.  "That  is 
all  we  ask." 

"  I  will  lay  this  matter  before  my  royal  mother, 
the  Queen,"  said  the  King,  "  for  she  has  far  more 
knowledge  of  such  subjects,  and  far  more  influence 
with  our  clergy,  than  I  have,  and  I  fear  me  not  that 
what  you  desire  will  be  readily  obtained.  It  is  a  fair 
and  reasonable  request  you  make,  and  I  am  right  well 
pleased  you  came  to  me  to  make  it.  So  be  comforted, 
my  little  friends.  I  will  speak  with  the  Queen  this 
very  day  in  your  behalf." 

With  this  he  rose,  and  with  a  smile  and  a  little 
wave  of  the  hand  dismissed  his  young  petitioners. 
They  were  about  to  step  back,  when  Jasto,  who  had 
been    gradually    getting    nearer     and     nearer    to    the 


144  THE   STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

central  group,  so  that  he  had  heard  all  that  had  been 
said,  pulled  Louis  by  the  end  of  his  doublet,  and 
whispered  in  his  ear: 

"Ask  if  you  shall  come  again,  or  if  you  may  go 
home  with  the  good  news." 

Then  Louis  advanced  a  little,  and  spoke  up  quickly, 
asking  the  question. 

"  Come  to-morrow  an  hour  earlier  than  this  time," 
said  the  King,  who  evidently  was  much  interested  in 
the  matter, — the  more  so,  perhaps,  because  so  little 
kingly  business  was  submitted  to  him, — "  and  you 
shall  hear  exactly  what  will  be  done,  and  who  shall 
be  sent  to  catechise  the  Countess."  He  then  walked 
away,  and  the  children  rejoined  their  elder  com- 
panions. 

When  Sir  Charles  heard  of  the  suggestion  made 
by  Jasto,  he  slapped  him  on  the  shoulder  and  said 
to  him : 

"  You  were  always  a  good  fellow,  Jasto,  with 
ideas  suitable  to  the  occasion,  both  to  speak  and  to 
write  down  with  ink.  Now  I  shall  be  able  to  see  this 
great  city  of  Paris,  which  I  have  not  visited  for  ten 
long   years." 

And  with  minds  relieved,  and  with  the  fresh  and 
eager  curiosity  of  young  people  who  had  never  seen 
a  city  before,  our  three  friends  accompanied  Sir 
Charles    on   a   sight-seeing   tour   through  Paris.      The 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  145 

capital  of  France  was  nothing  like  so  large  and 
wonderful  as  the  Paris  of  to-day,  but  it  contained, 
among  other  public  edifices,  that  great  building,  the 
Louvre,  which  still  stands,  and  which  was  then  used,  not 
only  as  a  residence  for  the  King,  but  as  a  prison.  There 
were  also  beautiful  bridges  across  the  Seine,  which 
runs  through  the  city ;  the  streets  were  paved,  and 
there  were  shops ;  there  were  many  people,  some 
going  one  way  and  some  another — some  attending  to 
their  business,  and  some  taking  their  ease,  with  their 
families,  in  front  of  their  houses ;  gayly  dressed 
knights  were  prancing  through  the  streets  on  their 
handsome  horses;  ladies  were  gazing  from  windows; 
artisans  were  at  work  in  their  shops,  and,  altogether, 
the  sights  and  delights  of  the  Paris  of  1236  produced 
upon  these  three  children  very  much  the  same  effect 
that  the  Paris  of  1883  would  have  produced  upon 
them   had   they   lived   in  our    day. 

A  little  before  the  appointed  time,  the  next  day, 
Raymond,  Louis,  and  Agnes,  accompanied  as  at  the 
previous  interview,  were  in  the  woods  of  Vincennes, 
and  advanced  to  the  spot  where  they  were  to  meet 
the   King. 

In  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  the  young  monarch 
made  his  appearance,  walking  quite  rapidly,  and 
followed  by  several  attendants.  There  was  much 
less   ceremony  observed   in    those    days  between  royal 


146  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

personages  and  their  subjects  than  at  present,  and 
the  King  walked  straight  up  to  our  three  friends 
and  spoke   to  them. 

"  I  am   sorry,"  he   said,  "  that   I  have  not  performed 
for  you   all   the   good   offices   which   you    asked,   and 
which  I  should  gladly  have  performed.     But  the  Queen, 
who   understands   these   important  matters  better  than 
myself,  assures  me  that  it  would  be  an  action  unbefitting 
royalty   to    interfere    in    this    emergency     which    you 
have  brought  before  me.     It   is   a   matter   with   which 
the  clergy  and  its   appointed    institutions    have   to   do, 
and   with   which   the    King   can   not    meddle   without 
detriment    to    Christianity,    and   to   the   proper    power 
and    influence   of    the   Church.      Whatever    ought   to 
be  done,  in   order   that   the    Countess  of   Viteau  shall 
be  justly  treated  in  this  matter,  will,  as  I  am  earnestly 
assured,    be    done.      And    with    this,"    he    continued, 
after    a    moment's    hesitation,   "  we    ought    all    to    be 
satisfied;     ought   we    not?     It    was    to    discover    the 
truth,   and    to    uphold   and    support   good   Christians, 
that  the    Inquisition   was    established,   and    it   is    not 
fitting  that  the  King  or  the  nobility  of  France  should 
doubt  or  fear  the  justice  of  its  actions  and  decisions." 
At    these    words,   Agnes    burst   into    tears ;    Louis, 
too,   began    to    sob,   and    Raymond    stood    pale    and 
trembling.      Count   Hugo   and   Sir  Charles,  perceiving 
that  something  unhappy  had  occurred,  drew  near  their 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  147 

young  charges,  while  the  courtiers  about  the  King 
exchanged  looks  of  compassion,  as  they  gazed  upon 
the   sorrowful    children. 

"  There  is  but  one  thing,  then,  to  do,"  exclaimed  Ray- 
mond, half  turning  away.     "  We  must  fly  to  England." 

"  What  ?"  exclaimed  the  King  ;  "  to  England  !  Fly  ? 
What   means    that?" 

"  In  England,"  said  Louis,  his  voice  half-choked 
with   tears,   "  the   King   does   not   allow " 

At  this  point  Raymond  gave  his  brother  such  a 
pull  by  the  arm  that  he  instantly  stopped  speaking, 
to  turn  around  and  see  what  was  the  matter,  and  then 
Raymond   spoke : 

"  My  Lord  King,"  he  said,  "  we  must  now  make 
our  way  with  our  mother  to  England,  because  there 
we  shall  be  safe  from  the  power  of  the  Inquisition. 
It  may  be  that  its  trials  may  be  just  and  right,  but 
we  have  heard  something  of  the  horrible  tortures  that 
its  prisoners  have  to  bear,  to  prove  whether  they 
will  tell  the  truth  or  not ;  and,  while  I  live,  my 
mother,  my  own  dear  mother,  shall  never  be  dragged 
from  her  home  and  be  made  to  go  through  such  a 
trial.      I   would   kill   her   first  myself." 

"  And  so  would  I,"  cried  Louis,  "  if  Raymond  were 
dead !" 

"  Oh,  boys !"  exclaimed  Agnes,  imploringly,  "  do 
not   say   such   horrible   things !  " 


148  THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

The  King,  apparently,  had  not  heard  these  latter 
remarks.  For  a  moment  he  seemed  in  troubled 
thought,  and   then   he  said,  half   to   himself: 

"  Can  it  be  that  a  noble  lady,  and  a  pious  one,  I 
doubt  not,  must  flee  my  dominions,  to  take  refuge 
with  Henry  of  England,  because,  as  it  appears,  she  is 
persecuted  by  enemies,  and  threatened  with  the  rigors 
of  the  Inquisition,  which,  whatever  they  be,  may 
perhaps  well  frighten  the  souls  of  a  gentle  dame  and 
these   poor   children !" 

"  And  they  could  not  certainly  save  themselves  by 
flight,  sire,"  said  the  courtiers,  "  for  the  Pope  could 
doubtless  order  them  to  be  apprehended  and  remanded 
to   these   shores." 

"  Is  there,  then,  no  place  to  which  we  can  fly  ?" 
cried  little  Agnes.  "  For  I  am  going,  too.  Father 
and   I   will   go." 

The  young  King  made  no  reply.  He  stood,  silent 
and  pale.  Then,  stepping  forward  a  little,  his  head 
held   very   high,   and   his    eyes   sparkling,    he   said : 

"  Do  not  fly  to  any  land.  Leave  not  France.  You 
are  as  safe  here  as  in  any  spot  on  earth.  Go  back  to 
your  mother,  my  brave  youth,  and  tell  her  that  her 
own  King  will  protect  her  from  needless  molestation, 
and  will  give  that  opportunity  she  asks  for  to  show 
her  true  faith  and  sound  belief.  I  will  desire,  as  a 
favor  to    myself,   that  the   Inquisition   shall    cease   its 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  149 

action  against  this  lady  until  some  wise  and  learned 
members  of  our  clergy,  whom  I  will  send  to  her  to 
inquire  into  this  matter,  shall  give  their  fair  and 
well-considered  opinion  of  it.  And  now,"  said  he, 
turning  to  his  courtiers,  his  face  flushed  with  youthful 
pride,  "  I  feel  more  like  a  king  of  France  than  I 
ever  felt  before." 


CHAPTER    XV. 

THE  leader  of  the  officers  of  the  Inquisition  was 
not  long  in  discovering  the  retreat  of  the  Countess. 
He  was  greatly  assisted  by  the  monks  of  the  monastery 
near  Viteau,  who  suspected,  from  what  had  been  said 
by  some  of  the  cotereaux  who  occasionally  found  it 
necessary  to  go  outside  of  the  chateau  court-yard, 
that  something  of  importance  had  occurred  at  Viteau. 
By  careful  inquiries  they  soon  found  out  that  the 
Countess  was  there,  and  reported  the  fact  to  the  chief 
officer  at  his  headquarters  at  Barran's  castle. 

The  Count,  on  the  contrary,  did  not  know  where 
the  Countess  of  Viteau  had  gone.  She  and  Bernard 
had  thought  it  best  not  to  inform  him  of  her  place  of 
refuge,  and  Barran  had  not  endeavored  to  discover 
this  place,  deeming  it  unsafe  for  any  one  in  the  castle 

to  know  where  she  was,  so  long  as  her  pursuers  were 

150 


THE  STORY   OF   VITEAU.  151 

with  him.  He  knew  by  the  actions  of  his  unwelcome 
visitors  that  she  had  not  been  captured,  but  he  never 
imagined  that  she  was  in  her  own  chateau  of  Viteau. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  second  day  after  that 
on  which  Count  Hugo  and  his  party  started  on  their 
return  from  Paris,  bearing  the  happy  news  that  the 
King  had  consented  to  interfere  in  behalf  of  the 
Countess,  and  that  one  or  two  well-qualified  persons 
were,  as  soon  as  possible,  to  visit  her  at  the  castle 
of  Barran  to  give  her  an  opportunity  of  properly 
representing  her  case,  the  Inquisitors  appeared  at 
Viteau. 

Viteau,  although  not  exactly  a  castle,  was,  like  all 
the  residences  of  the  upper  classes  in  those  days,  a 
strongly  defended  place.  It  had  a  wall  around  the 
court-yard,  and  its  numerous  towers  and  turrets  and 
little  balconies  were  constructed  to  accommodate  and 
protect  a  large  number  of  archers  and  cross-bow  men. 

Therefore  it  was  that  Robert  de  Comines,  the 
leader  of  the  Inquisitorial  party,  thought  it  well  to 
have  a  strong  body  of  men  with  him  in  case  it  became 
necessary  to  force  his  way  into  the  chateau. 

First  posting  soldiers  at  every  entrance  to  the 
grounds,  Comines  marched  to  the  great  gate  and 
demanded  admittance.  Michol,  who  had  received 
notice  that  a  large  body  of  men  was  approaching,  and 
who    felt   quite    sure    that  he   knew  who    they   were, 


152  THE   STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

gave  some  orders  to  his  under-officers  and  hastened 
to  the  gate. 

"  Who  may  you  be  ?  "  said  Michol  from  the  window 
in  the  gate,  "and  why  come  you  here?  These  gates 
open,  now,  to  no  visitors,  friends  or  foes." 

Comines  did  not  see  fit  to  state  the  object  of  his 
visit,  nor  to  exhibit  his  authority,  and  without  answering 
Michol's  questions,  he  asked  another. 

"Are  you  the  captain  of  the  robbers  who  have 
seized  upon  this  chateau  ? "  he  said. 

"  I  am  the  captain  of  the  good  and  valiant  cotereaux, 
who  hold  this  chateau  and  its  belongings  as  a  war- 
ranty for  a  just  and  righteous  debt,"  answered  Michol. 
"  Have  you  aught  to  say  to  me  concerning  the  matter  ?  " 

"  I  have  something  to  say  to  you,"  replied  Comines, 
"which  you  will  do  well  to  hear,  and  that  speedily. 
Open  the  gate  and  let  me  enter." 

"  If  you  wish  to  speak  with  me,"  answered  Michol, 
"  I  am  ready  to  hear  what  you  have  to  say.  But  you 
need  not  enter,  fair  sir.     I  will  come  out  to  you." 

"  No,  no !  "  cried  the  other.  "  I  must  go  in.  Open 
the  gate !  " 

"That  will  I,  gladly,"  said  Michol,  "but  it  must 
be  for  me  to  go  out  and  not  for  you  to  come  in.  This 
is  not  my  dwelling,  nor  are  these  my  lands.  I  meet 
my  friends  and  foes  in  the  forest  and  on  the  road." 

At   these   words   the   gates  were  thrown    open,  and 


THE   STORY  OF    VITEAU.  1 53 

Michol  rushed  out,  followed  by  nearly  all  his  men, 
who  had  been  closely  massed  behind  him  while  he 
spoke.  The  cotereaux  were  in  such  a  large  and  solid 
body  that  they  completely  filled  the  gateway  and 
forced  back  Comines  and  his  men,  who  vainly  endeav- 
ored to  maintain  their  ground  before  the  gate. 

Comines  shouted  and  threatened,  and  his  followers 
manfully  struggled  with  the  robbers,  who  surged  like 
a  great  wave  from  the  gate ;  but  it  was  of  no  use. 
Out  came  the  cotereaux,  and  backward  were  forced 
Comines's  men,  until  all  the  robbers,  excepting  those 
who  were  left  to  guard  the  other  gates,  and  some 
archers  who  were  posted  on  certain  of  the  towers, 
had  rushed  into  the  road,  and  the  gates  had  been 
locked  behind  them. 

The  sudden  confusion  had  been  so  great  that,  at 
first,  the  two  leaders  could  not  find  each  other.  At 
length  they  met  in  the  middle  of  the  road,  and  the 
men  of  each  party  disengaged  themselves  from  one 
another  as  rapidly  as  possible,  and  gathered  in  two 
confronting  bodies,  each  behind  its  leader. 

"  Here  am  I.  What  would  you  have  ? "  said 
Michol. 

"  Thief  and  leader  of  thieves ! "  cried  the  enraged 
Comines.  "  Do  you  suppose  that  I  want  you !  You 
shall  feel  the  power  of  the  Church  in  your  own  person 
for  this  violence.     Know  that  I  am  an  officer  of  the 

7* 


154  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

Holy  Inquisition,  with  all  due  authority  and  warrant 
to  carry  out  my  purpose,  and  that  I  come  to  apprehend 
and  take  before  our  high  tribunal  the  person  of  the 
Countess  of  Viteau,  who  is  behind  those  walls.  Now 
that  you  know  my  errand,  stand  back  and  let  me 
enter." 

"That  will  I  not,"  said  Michol,  firmly.  "What- 
ever your  errand  and  your  authority,  you  come  too 
late.  The  Countess  of  Viteau  is  now  my  prisoner. 
I  hold  her  and  this  chateau  as  security  for  the  payment 
of  ransom-money  justly  due  me ;  and  I  will  give  her 
up  to  no  man  until  that  ransom  shall  be  paid.  What- 
ever warrant  you  may  have,  I  know  well  that  you 
have  none  to  take  from  me  my  prisoner." 

"  Rascal ! "  cried  Comines,  "  who  would  show  a  war- 
rant to  a  thief?     Will  you  open  that  gate  to  me  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Michol,  "  I  will  not." 

"  Then  take  that  for  my  authority ! "  said  Comines, 
drawing  his  sword  as  he  spoke,  and  making  a  sudden 
thrust  at  the  robber  leader. 

Michol  had  no  sword,  but  in  his  right  hand  he  bore 
a  mace  or  club  with  a  heavy  steel  or  iron  head.  This 
was  a  weapon  generally  used  by  knights  on  horse- 
back, but  Michol  was  a  tall,  strong  fellow,  and  he 
carried  it  with  ease.  Stepping  quickly  aside  as  Comines 
thrust  at  him,  he  swung  his  mace  in  the  air,  and 
brought  it  down  upon  his  adversary's  head  with  such 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  1 55 

rapidity   and    force   that   it   knocked   him   senseless    to 
the  ground. 

This  blow  was  followed,  almost  instantly,  by  a 
general  conflict.  As  none  of  Comines's  men  were 
mounted,  their  horses  having  been  left  at  the  monastery, 
and  as  they  did  not  number  half  as  many  as  the 
cotereaux, — who  were,  indeed,  in  much  stronger  force 
than  Comines  and  the  monks  had  imagined, — the 
fight  was  not  a  long  one.  The  robbers  soon  over- 
powered their  opponents,  killing  some,  causing  others 
to  make  a  disorderly  flight,  and  taking  a  number  of 
prisoners. 

The  latter  were  carefully  robbed, — not  an  article 
of  value,  not  a  weapon,  nor  piece  of  armor  being  left 
on  their  persons, — and  then  they  were  set  free  to 
carry  away  their  wounded  and  dead  comrades. 

Michol  sent  a  detachment  of  his  men  to  attack  the 
soldiers  who  had  been  placed  outside  of  the  other 
entrances  to  the  chateau  ;  and  when  these  had  been 
routed  and  the  battle-field  in  front  of  the  great  gate 
had  been  cleared  of  enemies,  dead  and  alive,  the 
robber  captain  entered  the  court-yard  with  his  men, 
and  the  gates  were  locked  and  barred  behind  him. 

Bernard,  the  squire,  had  been  watching  the  combat 
from  a  high  tower. 

"  I  knew,"  he  said  to  himself,  when  it  was  over, 
"that    this   was   the   only  place   in    France   where   the 


156  THE  STORY    OF    VITEAU. 

Countess  would  be  safe.  For  none  but  a  pack  of 
thieves  would  have  dared  to  fight  those  who  came 
to  capture  her." 

The  Countess  was  greatly  agitated  when  she  heard 
of  the  affair,  for  she  knew  nothing  of  it  until  it  was 
over.  She  was  glad  and  thankful  that  her  pursuers 
had  been  defeated  in  their  object,  but  she  thought  it 
was  a  terrible  thing  to  have  had  an  actual  conflict 
with  them. 

Her  good  squire  did  his  best  to  make  matters  look 
as  well  as  possible. 

"  You  must  remember,  my  lady,"  said  he,  "  that 
the  fight  was  not  within  our  walls,  and  that  none 
of  us  took  part  in  it.  And,  I  trow,  we  shall  not  soon 
see  again  those  men  from  Toulouse ;  for  the  leader 
of  them  has  been  grievously  disabled,  and  it  will  be 
many  a  day  before  he  will  again  desire  to  carry  off 
anybody." 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

TH  E  Countess  of  Viteau  now  became  very  anxious  to 
learn,  as  soon  as  possible,  the  result  of  her  embassy 
to  the  King,  and  she  also  wished  her  sons  to  know 
where  she  was.  She  consulted  with  her  squire,  Bernard, 
in  regard  to  the  matter;  and  they  concluded  that  it 
would  be  better,  if  the  travelers  brought  bad  news, 
and  the  young  King  had  refused  to  interfere  in  behalf 
of  the  Countess,  that  Raymond  and  Louis  should 
know  the  place  of  her  refuge  before  any  of  their 
party  could  reach  Barran's  castle,  and  that  they 
should  immediately  join  her,  when,  with  them,  she 
should  fly  the  country  without  delay  or  further  con- 
sultation with  any  one. 

She  had  determined  at  last  that,  if  she  should  be 
obliged  to  leave  her  country,  she  would  take  her 
boys  with  her,  and  let  the  Count  de  Barran    and    her 

i57 


158  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAO. 

other  friends  do  the  best  they  could  in  regard  to  her 
estates.  She  had  money  enough  in  her  possession  to 
provide  for  the  expenses  of  a  journey  to  England, 
but  she  did  not  consider,  when  making  her  plans, 
that  the  captain  of  the  cotereaux  would  require  his 
claims  paid  before  he  would  let  her  go.  Bernard 
thought  of  this,  but  he  said  nothing  and  hoped  for 
the  best. 

Michol  also  was  quite  anxious  to  know  what  had 
been  done  at  Paris,  for  the  news  would  influence  in 
a  great  degree  the  terms  of  his  demands  for  ransom 
money. 

On  the  day  after  the  attack  of  Comines  had  been 
repulsed,  it  was  considered  that  Count  de  Lannes 
and  his  party  might  be  expected  to  be  nearing  the 
end  of  their  homeward  journey,  and  it  was  determined 
to  send  a  page,  accompanied  by  one  of  Michol's  men, 
to  intercept  the  travelers  and  to  convey  a  note  to 
Raymond  from  his  mother. 

The  main  road  from  Paris  through  Burgundy  ran 
within  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  of  Viteau,  and  Count 
Hugo  might  therefore  be  met,  while  yet  more  than 
half  a  day's  journey  from  the-  castle. 

The  page's  companion  knew  all  the  roads  and 
by-ways  of  the  surrounding  country,  and  they  reached 
in  good  time  the  high  road  from  Paris,  but  after 
waiting  there  all  day  and  making  inquiries  at  various 


THE   STORY  OF    VITEAU.  1 59 

cottages  near  by,  they  saw  nothing  and  heard  no  news 
of  the  Count  and  his  company. 

After  dark  they  returned  to  Viteau,  as  they  had 
been  told  to  do,  for  it  was  known  that  Count  Hugo 
would  not  travel  by  night,  and  before  daylight  the 
next  morning  they  set  out  again. 

The  long  watch  of  the  previous  day  had  wearied 
the  restless  soul  of  the  robber,  and  he  declared  to  the 
page,  as  they  rode  along,  that  they  would  have  another 
day  to  wait  upon  the  dusty  highway,  for  he  had  been 
to  Paris  and  he  knew  how  long  it  would  take  the 
Count's  party  to  go  and  return,  and  that  they  could 
not  be  reasonably  expected  that  day. 

"  See  you  that  cottage  down  there  in  the  little  glade 
below  us  ? "  he  said  to  the  page,  a  little  after  sunrise. 
"  There  live  an  old  woman  and  two  louts,  her  sons. 
They  are  poor  creatures,  but  they  make  wine  good 
enough  to  sell ;  at  least,  a  month  or  so  ago,  when  I 
and  a  half-dozen  of  my  comrades  stopped  at  their 
cottage  to  eat  and  rest,  that  is  what  they  told  me  they 
did  with  it.  We  found  their  wine  good  to  drink, — 
which  can  not  be  said  of  all  wine  that  is  good  enough 
to  sell, — and  we  drank  many  a  full  horn  of  it,  and 
what  we  did  not  drink  we  poured  over  her  floor,  so 
that  her  house  should  smell  of  good  cheer." 

"  That  was  a  wasteful  thing  to  do,"  said  the  page, 
"and  must  have  cost  you  a  goodly  sum." 


l6o  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

"  Cost  us ! "  laughed  the  robber.  "  How  could  it 
cost  us  anything  when  we  had  no  money?  And 
now,  look  you,  we  have  more  time  than  we  shall 
know  what  to  do  with,  and  I  am  going  down  there 
for  some  wine  to  cheer  us  through  the  day.  Ride 
you  slowly  on,  and  I  will  overtake  you  before  you 
have  gone  half  a  mile." 

So  saying,  the  robber  turned  from  the  road,  and 
dashed  down  into  the  glade.  Reaching  the  cottage, 
he  tied  his  horse  by  the  door,  and,  entering,  demanded 
of  the  old  woman,  who  was  cooking  something  over 
a  little  fire,  that  she  should  bring  him  some  of  her 
good  wine,  and  plenty  of  it,  too,  for  he  wanted  some 
to  drink  and  some  to  carry  away. 

The  old  woman  looked  at  him  for  a  moment,  and 
then  went  out  and  brought  a  jug  of  wine  and  a 
drinking-horn. 

When  the  robber  had  sat  down  on  a  rough  stool, 
and  had  begun  to  drink,  she  went  out  for  some  wood 
for  her  fire.  But  instead  of  picking  up  dry  sticks, 
she  ran  to  a  small  field  where  her  sons  were  working. 

"  Come  quickly  !  "  she  said.  "  One  of  the  cowardly 
thieves  who  drank  and  wasted  our  wine,  a  while  ago, 
and  struck  me  in  the  face  when  I  asked  for  pay,  is  in 
the  cottage  now,  drinking  and  robbing  us  again. 
There  were  many  of  them  then,  and  you  could  do 
nothing.     Now  there  is  only  one.     Come  quickly !  " 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  l6l 

Without  a  word,  the  young  men,  still  carrying  the 
heavy  hoes  they  had  been  using,  ran  to  the  house, 
and  rushing  into  the  room  where  the  robber  was  still 
seated  on  his  stool,  engaged  in  drinking  his  second 
horn  of  wine,  they  attacked  him  with  their  hoes. 

The  coterel  sprang  from  his  seat,  and  drew  the 
heavy  sword  which  hung  at  his  belt,  but,  in  an  instant, 
it  was  knocked  from  his  hand,  and  he  was  belabored 
over  the  head  and  shoulders  by  the  hoes  of  the  angry 
young  peasants.  If  he  had  not  worn  an  iron  cap, 
which  was  his  only  piece  of  armor,  he  probably  would 
have  been  killed.  As  it  was,  he  was  glad  to  plunge 
out  of  the  door  and  run  for  the  woods.  The  two 
young  men  pursued  him,  but  he  was  a  faster  runner 
than  they,  and  his  legs  were  not  injured.  So,  wounded 
and  bruised,  and  very  sorry  that  he  had  thought  about 
the  old  woman's  wine,  he  left  them  behind,  and  dis- 
appeared among  the  thick  undergrowth  of  the  neigh- 
boring forest.  His  pursuers  returned  to  the  cottage 
and  set  loose  the  robber's  horse. 

"The  wicked  thief  shall  not  creep  back,"  they 
said,  "to  do  us  further  injury,  and  then  jump  on  his 
horse  and  fly." 

And  they  threw  stones  at  the  horse  until  he  had 
galloped  up  to  the  road  and  out  of  sight. 

The  page,  who  had  been  urged  by  his  mistress  to 
lose  no  time  in  reaching  the  high  road,  for  fear  that 


162  THE  STORY  OF   VlTEAU. 

her  sons  might  pass  before  he  got  there,  rode  on  and 
on,  looking  back  continually  for  his  companion,  but 
never  stopping.  Reaching  a  place  where  they  had 
made  a  short  cut,  the  day  before,  he  tried  to  find  it, 
got  into  the  woods  and  lost  his  way.  A  wood-cutter 
set  him  straight,  but  when  he  reached  the  Paris  road, 
it  was  long  past  noon,  and  he  was  dreadfully  afraid 
that  Count  de  Lannes's  party  had  gone  by. 

Inquiries  of  some  peasants,  who  lived  not  far 
from  the  road,  made  him  almost  sure  that  his  fears 
were  correct,  for  they  had  noticed  two  companies  of 
horsemen  go  by,  and  they  thought  that  there  were 
some  young  people  with  one  of  them.  Still,  he  waited 
and  watched,  and  wondered  why  the  coterel  did  not 
come,  until  nightfall,  and  then  he  set  out  to  return  to 
Viteau.  Without  his  robber  companion, — whom,  by 
the  way,  he  never  saw  again,  for  the  fellow  was 
afraid  to  return  to  his  captain,  having  lost  his  horse, — 
it  was  quite  impossible  for  him  to  find  his  way  back 
in  the  dark,  and  in  less  than  an  hour  he  was  hope- 
lessly lost.  Finding  no  wood-cutter,  or  any  one  else, 
who  could  show  him  his  way,  he  wandered  about 
until  he  and  his  horse  were  tired  out,  and  then  they 
spent  the  rest  of  the  night  under  a  tree. 

The  page  was  quite  right  when  he  supposed  that 
Count  Hugo's  party  had  passed  along  the  high  road 
before   he   reached   it.      The  travelers   had  pressed  on 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  1 63 

vigorously  during  their  homeward  journey,  and  meeting 
with  no  hindrances, — of  brabancois,  or  anything  else, — 
they  rode  into  the  gates  of  Barran's  castle  before 
nightfall  of  the  day  on  which  the  page  had  missed 
them. 

As  soon  as  they  had  entered  the  court-yard,  the 
two  boys  sprang  from  their  horses  and  ran  to  the 
great  door  of  the  castle.  But  here  they  were  met 
by  the  Count  de  Barran,  who,  with  outstretched  arms, 
stopped  them  as  they  were  hurrying  to  their  mother's 
apartments,  and,  as  gently  as  he  could,  told  them, — 
with  Agnes  and  her  father,  who  had  now  come 
up, — the  story  of  the  visit  of  the  Inquisitors  and  the 
flight  of  the  Countess. 

The  poor  boys  were  almost  overcome  by  this  entirely 
unlooked-for  and  dreadful  news.  They  had  hurried 
back,  excited  and  happy  with  the  good  tidings  they 
were  bringing  their  mother,  only  to  find  that  she  had 
utterly  disappeared,  and  no  one  could  tell  them 
whether  she  was  safe,  or  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
her  persecutors.  Louis  burst  into  tears,  and  fell  on 
the  neck  of  his  brother,  who  folded  him  in  his  arms, 
and,  without  a  word,  the  two  boys  stumbled  up  the 
stairs,  and  were  seen  no  more  that  night. 

Early  the  next  morning,  Raymond  and  Louis, 
still  with  pale  and  tear-stained  faces,  but  unable  to 
remain    quiet  any  longer,  came    down    to  the  stables, 


1 64  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

and,  ordering  two  horses  to  be  saddled,  mounted  theml 
and   rode  away  to   look   for  their  mother. 

If  any  of  their  elders  had  known  of  their  intention, 
they  would  not  have  been  allowed  to  go.  This  they 
well  knew,  and  so  they  hurried  away  before  any  one  but 
the  servants  of  the  castle  was  awake.  They  felt  that 
they  hated  the  Count  de  Barran  for  having  let  their 
mother  go  away,  without  knowing  where  she  could  be 
found  or  heard  from,  and  they  wished  to  have  nothing 
more  to  do  with  him.  And  they  had  come  to  the  belief 
that  no  one  but  themselves  could  do  anything  for  their 
mother  now,  and  that  they  must  ride  the  whole  world 
over  until  they  had  found  her. 

Each  was  armed  with  sword  and  dagger,  and  they 
had  some  money  with  them  to  buy  food.  As  to  plans, 
they  had  made  only  one,  and  that  was  to  ride  so  far  that 
day  that  Barran  would  not  be  likely  to  find  them  and 
Dring  them  back  ;  and  then  they  would  make  inquiries, 
and  come  to  some  decision  as  to  which  direction  they 
should  go  in  their  mournful  search. 

The  sun  was  about  two  hours'  high,  and  they  had 
ridden  quite  a  long  distance,  when  they  saw  coming 
toward  them  on  the  road  a  boy  upon  a  horse.  In  a 
moment  they  recognized  their  mother's  page,  and  he  as 
soon  knew  them.  The  three  young  fellows  rushed 
together,  and  began  clamorously  to  ask  questions.  The 
page  being  only   one  against   two  was  soon  obliged  to 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  165 

surrender  in  this  question  conflict,  and  to  give  answers 
to   his  eager  young   masters. 

When  Raymond  and  Louis  heard  that  their  mother 
was  at  Viteau,  they  asked  nothing  more,  but  giving  a 
shout  of  joy,  turned  their  horses'  heads  toward  their  old 
home,  for  they  were  on  a  road  leading  directly  thereto, 
which  the  page  had  at  last  found. 

Onward  and  onward  the  three  galloped,  much  to  the 
weariness  of  their  poor  horses,  and  some  hours  before 
nightfall  they  reached  Viteau,  where  they  were  readily 
admitted  by  Michol,  who  gave  Raymond  and  Louis  even 
a  more  eager  welcome  than  that  with  which  he  had 
opened  the  gates  to  their  mother. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

NOW  that  he  had  not  only  the  Countess  of  Viteau, 
but  her  two  sons,  under  his  control  and  in  his 
power,  Michol  became  very  anxious  to  settle  the  matter 
of  the  ransom  money  which  he  intended  to  demand  for 
his  prisoners,  as  he  considered  them. 

He  set  one  of  his  new  men,  who  happened  to  be  a 
truer  scribe  than  Jasto,  at  work  to  write  a  carefully- 
worded  paper,  to  be  sent  to  Count  de  Barran,  and  in  it 
he  stated  the  terms  on  which  he  would  release  the 
Countess  and  her  sons  and  retire,  with  his  men,  from 
Viteau. 

The  Countess,  now  happy  in  the  possession  of  her 

sons,  and  having  the  good  news  from  the  King,  was  very 

desirous  to  start  immediately  for  the  castle  of  the  Count 

de  Barran,  where  she  expected  the  priests   from   Paris 

would  soon  arrive.     She  was  greatly  surprised  and  dis- 

166 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  1 67 

appointed  when  she  found  that  Michol  would  not  let  her 
go  until  the  ransoms  had  been  paid ;  and  the  two  boys 
were  very  angry,  and  wanted  to  go  down  and  demand 
that  Michol  should  instantly  order  the  gates  to  be 
opened  to  them.  But  their  mother  restrained  them. 
They  were  now  in  the  power  of  these  robbers,  and 
they  must  be  prudent. 

Michol,  having  understood  that  the  Countess  was 
not  herself  prepared  to  pay  any  money,  had  prudently 
determined  to  transact  his  business  with  Barran  alone. 
He  was  very  glad,  however,  to  have  her  write  a  letter 
requesting  the  Count  to  pay  the  ransoms  demanded, 
promising  to  return  the  money  when  she  again  took 
charge  of  her  estates  and  business  affairs,  and  urging 
him  to  use  all  possible  haste  in  settling  the  matter  with 
the  captain  of  the  cotereaux. 

This  letter,  with  the  one  from  Michol,  was  sent  to 
the  Count  the  day  after  the  arrival  of  Raymond  and 
Louis  at  Viteau,  and  it  gave  the  people  at  the  castle 
the  first  news  of  the  whereabouts  of  the  Countess, 
and  also  relieved  them  from  the  new  anxiety  caused 
by  the  departure  of  the  boys,  for  whom  search  was  at 
that  time  being  made. 

But  while  these  news  gladdened  the  hearts  and 
relieved  the  minds  of  the  Count  de  Barran  and  his 
friends,  the  terms  of  Michol's  letter  vexed  them  exceed- 
ingly, and  threatened  to  embarrass  them  very  much. 


1 68  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

The  wily  robber  knew  that  there  were  urgent  reasons 
why  the  Countess  should,  as  soon  as  possible,  be  at 
liberty  to  attend  to  private  affairs,  and  therefore  he 
greatly  increased  the  demands  he  had  before  determined 
to  make. 

Not  only  did  he  require  the  payment  of  the  amount 
originally  fixed  as  the  ransom  for  Louis,  but  he  asked 
a  very  large  sum  for  the  release  of  the  Countess ;  quite 
as  much  for  Raymond's  ransom ;  a  smaller  sum  for 
Bernard ;  and  a  good  price  for  his  so-called  services  in 
taking  care  of  the  chateau,  and  protecting  its  inmates. 

Beside  all  this,  he  demanded  that  Jasto,  the  man 
who  had  deserted  him,  should  be  delivered  to  him  for 
punishment. 

Although  Count  de  Barran  was  a  rich  nobleman,  the 
total  amount  named  in  this  letter  was  far  more  money 
than  he  had  in  his  possession  at  the  time ;  and  far 
more,  too,  than  the  Countess  could  afford  to  repay 
him,  if  he  had  had  it  to  send  to  Michol.  Still,  although 
he  was  very  much  annoyed  and  provoked  by  the  impu- 
dent demands  of  the  robber  captain,  he  said  that  there 
was  nothing  to  be  done  but  to  accede  to  them  ;  for  the 
Countess  must  be  released,  and  that  instantly.  Not 
only  was  it  positively  necessary  for  her  to  be  at  the 
castle  when  the  priests  from  Paris  arrived  (for  it  was  not 
at  all  likely  that  they  would  be  willing  to  go  to  Viteau 
and  trust  themselves  among  a  gang  of  thieves),  but  he 


THE   STORY  OF    VITEAU.  1 69 

was  afraid  that,  if  the  terms  of  Michol  were  resisted, 
or  even  disputed,  he  might  be  provoked  to  do  some 
injury  to  the  Countess  or  her  sons  in  order  to  hasten 
the  payment  of  the  ransoms.  Such  conduct  was  not 
uncommon  among  these  thieves.  For  these  reasons, 
he  would  endeavor  to  raise  the  money  and  pay  it,  as 
soon  as  possible. 

Sir  Charles  was  very  indignant  at  that  portion  of  the 
letter ,  relating  to  Jasto.  He  had  been  very  glad  to 
regain  his  old  servant,  who  had  left  him  on  account  of 
a  quarrel  with  a  squire,  and  who,  according  to  his  own 
account,  had  been  obliged  to  join  the  cotcreaux  because 
he  could  find  nothing  else  to  do ;  and  he  stoutly 
declared  that  he  would  not  reward  Jasto's  good  action 
in  bringing  Louis  to  his  mother  by  delivering  him  to 
the  vengeance  of  the  scoundrel,  Michol. 

As  this  determination  would  make  it  useless  to  send 
the  money  to  Viteau,  if  Michol  insisted  on  the  surren- 
der of  Jasto,  Barran  sent  a  message,  in  great  haste,  to 
the  captain  of  the  cotereaux,  to  inquire  if  he  would  be 
willing  to  take  a  ransom  for  Jasto,  and  also  to  ask  if 
he  would  release  the  Countess  and  her  company  on 
the  payment  of  half  of  the  total  sum  demanded,  and 
be  content  to  remain  at  Viteau  until  the  rest  should 
be  paid. 

To  this  Michol  sent  a  very  short  answer,  in  which 
he   declared  that   he   would   accept   no   terms   for   the 


170  THE   STORY  OF  VITEAU. 

release  of  his  prisoners  but  the  delivery  of  Jasto  and 
the  payment  of  the  entire  sum  named  in  his  letter. 

The  messengers  who  brought  this  answer  also 
brought  the  news  of  the  fight  with  the  Inquisition 
people. 

Such  startling  intelligence  as  this  produced  a  great 
effect  upon  the  mind  of  Barran,  as  it  showed  him  to 
what  length  the  robber  captain  was  willing  to  go,  in 
order  to  secure  the  possession  of  his  prisoners  and  the 
payment  of  their  ransoms;  and  he  set  out  that  very 
day,  accompanied  by  his  chief  seneschal  and  other 
attendants,  to  visit  some  of  his  estates,  and  also  some 
small  towns  at  no  great  distance,  and  there  endeavor 
to  collect  the  money  needed.  The  Jasto  question,  he 
thought,  must  be  settled  as  best  it  could  be.  His  safety 
must  not  interfere  with  that  of  the   Countess. 

As  for  Count  Hugo,  he  would  have  nothing  to  do 
with  this  business.  He  utterly  disapproved  of  paying 
the  exorbitant  sums  demanded  by  Michol,  or  indeed  any 
money  at  all,  for  the  release  of  a  noble  lady  and  her 
sons,  whom  the  rascals  had  no  right  whatever  to  hold 
or  to  ask  ransom  for.  If  this  money  should  be  paid, 
he  said,  it  would  show  all  the  thieves  and  outlaws  of 
the  country  that  the  nobles  of  France  were  willing  to 
pay  them  enormous  sums  for  any  ladies  and  high-born 
children  that  they  might  steal.  Heretofore,  they  ex- 
pected  vengeance   if   they   attempted   anything   of  the 


THE  STORY  OF  VITEAU.  171 

kind,  but  now  they  would  expect  such  deeds  to  make 
them  rich.  To  be  sure,  this  case  was  a  peculiar  one; 
but  never,  he  declared,  as  a  knight  of  Christendom, 
would  he  submit  to  the  vile  exactions  of  a  common 
robber  like  Michol. 

And  little  Agnes  cried,  and  wandered  about  moaning, 
and  wished  she  was  a  man.  What  she  would  have 
done  if  she  had  been  a  man  she  did  not  know,  but 
certainly  she  could  do  nothing  as  a  little  girl,  or  even 
as  a  grown-up  woman. 

Jasto,  when  he  was  told  what  his  old  master  had 
said  in  regard  to  him,  retired  into  a  remote  part  of 
the  castle  where  he  could  not  be  easily  found,  and  dili- 
gently occupied  his  time  with  some  writing  materials 
which  he  had  brought  from  Paris. 

"  I  must  e'en  make  haste  and  learn  to  be  a  true 
scribe,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  for  if  my  master  finds  me 
out,  he  may  be  only  too  willing  to  toss  me  into  the 
jaws  of  the  cotereaux.  So,  hard  will  I  work  at  this 
alphabet  and  this  little  book  of  words,  and  keep  a 
sharp  eye  and  ear  open  for  any  change  in  Sir  Charles's 
mind  about  his  good  man  Jasto.  It  will  be  a  doughty 
man-at-arms  and  a  vigilant  who  delivers  me  to  Michol." 

Not  long  after  the  Count  de  Barran  had  started  on 
his  money-raising  errand,  Count  Hugo  set  out  on  a 
little  journey  to  the  monastery,  a  few  miles  from 
Viteau,  where  the  wounded  Comines  and   other  disa- 


172  THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

bled  members  of  the  Inquisitorial  force  were  said  to  be 
still  lying.  He  wished  to  find  out  whether  orders  had 
been  received  to  cease  attempts  to  arrest  the  Countess, 
and  also  to  discover  the  exact  truth,  as  far  as  possible, 
about  the  fight  with  the  cotereaux  and  the  strength 
of  Michol's  forces. 

As  he  was  going  into  what  might  prove  a  danger- 
ous neighborhood,  he  took  with  him  a  body  of  about 
thirty-five  horsemen,  all  completely  clad  in  armor,  of 
which  there  were  many  suits  in  the  castle,  and  all  well 
armed.  Some  of  these  men  were  his  own  retainers, 
and  others  belonged  to  the  retinue  of  Sir  Charles, 
who  did  not  accompany  his  friend,  as  Count  Hugo 
thought  it  well  that  some  knight  should  remain  at 
the  castle,  from  which  nearly  all  the  visitors  had 
now    departed. 

When  Count  Hugo  de  Lannes  reached  the  mon- 
astery, he  found  that  Comines  was  too  much  injured 
to  speak  or  think  about  the  affair  in  which  he  had 
been  engaged,  but  he  learned  from  the  monks  that 
no  recent  message  had  arrived  for  Comines,  and  he 
also  heard  how  the  cotereaux  had  robbed  him  of  his 
clothes  and  armor,  and  had  even  taken,  it  was  sup- 
posed, all  his  papers  of  authority  from  the  Inquisition. 

From  this  information,  Count  Hugo  felt  sure  that 
the  Countess  need  be  under  no  fear  of  trouble  from 
the  Inquisitors  before  the  message  to  desist  from  further 


THE   STORY  OF   VITEAU.  1 73 

action  should  reach  them.  Comines,  although  he  had 
excellent  surgical  and  medical  attention  from  the 
monks,  would  not  recover  for  some  time;  and  none 
of  the  other  members  of  his  party  would  be  likely  to 
attempt  to  carry  off  a  noble  lady  through  a  great  part 
of  France,  without  being  able  to  show  any  warrant 
for  their  proceedings. 

It  had  been  late  in  the  day  when  Count  Hugo 
arrived  at  the  monastery,  and  it  was  quite  dark  when, 
after  his  party  had  been  furnished  with  a  good  supper 
by  the  monks,  he  took  leave  of  his  entertainers. 

He  did  not  take  the  straight  road  back  to  the  castle, 
but  struck  off  toward  Viteau.  His  men  traveled 
slowly  by  the  light  of  the  stars.  Some  time  before 
they  reached  the  chateau,  a  halt  was  ordered  by  a 
small  wood;  and  there  Count  Hugo  had  a  ladder 
made. 

Two  straight  young  saplings,  which  were  easily 
selected  by  the  men,  whose  eyes  were  now  accustomed 
to  the  dim  light,  were  hewn  down  for  the  uprights  oi 
the  ladder,  and  slight  notches  were  cut  into  them  at 
suitable  distances  for  the  rounds.  These  were  made 
of  short,  strong  pieces  of  other  saplings,  quickly  cut 
into  proper  lengths,  and  were  fastened  to  the  uprights 
by  strong  leathern  thongs,  of  which  one  of  the  men 
had  brought  a  number  tied  to  his  saddle. 

When  this  rude  ladder  was  finished,  one  horseman 


174  THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU. 

took  it  by  one  end,  another  took  it  by  the  other,  and 
the  cavalcade  proceeded. 

Reaching  Viteau, —  which  they  did  not  approach  by 
the  front,  but  on  the  southern  side, — the  horses  were 
tied  at  some  distance  from  the  court-yard,  and  left  in 
charge  of  several  of  the  soldiers,  while  the  other  men, 
carrying  the  ladder,  quietly  made  their  way  to  the 
side-wall  of  the  court.  There  had  been  a  moat  on 
the  outside  of  this  wall,  but  after  the  wars  were  over, 
and  the  Count  de  Viteau  had  died,  this  moat  had  been 
allowed  to  go  dry,  and  so  Count  Hugo  and  his  men 
were  able  to  walk  up  to  the  wall  and  set  their  ladder 
against  it.  The  Count,  with  three  or  four  followers, 
then  got  over  the  wall,  and  when  they  were  in  the 
court-yard  they  cautiously  moved  toward  the  great 
gate.  They  encountered  no  one,  for,  although  the 
cotereaux  preserved  moderately  good  discipline,  they 
did  not  keep  a  very  strict  guard  at  night,  expecting  no 
attack  from  any  quarter. 

Arriving  at  the  gate,  the  Count  found  there  one 
sentry  fast  asleep.  This  fellow  was  quickly  seized  and 
bound,  with  a  scarf  over  his  mouth  ;  and  the  gate 
being  opened,  the  remainder  of  the  Count's  force, 
which  had  been  ordered  around  to  the  front,  was  noise- 
lessly admitted. 

The  whole  body  then  proceeded  to  the  chateau, 
where   a   dim    light  could   be  seen  shining  through  a 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  1/5 

wide  crack  at  the  door  of  the  principal  entrance. 
This  crack,  which  was  between  the  edge  of  the 
door  and  its  casement,  showed  that  one  bolt  was 
the  only  fastening  which  the  robbers  had  thought  it 
necessary  to  use  in  securing  this  entrance ;  and  when 
the  Count  had  made  himself  certain  of  this  fact,  he 
signaled  to  a  tall  man  who  carried  a  great  battle-ax, 
apparently  brought  for  use  in  a  case  like  this,  and 
motioned  to  him  to  use  his  weapon  on  the  fasten- 
ing  of  the   door. 

Two  tremendous  blows,  which  resounded  through 
the  house,  shattered  the  bolt,  and  the  door  was 
immediately    dashed    open. 

Count  Hugo,  who  had  carefully  made  all  his  plans, 
rushed  in,  with  four  men  at  his  heels,  and  hurried 
up  the  stair-way  which  led  to  the  apartments  of  the 
Countess  and  her  sons.  There  were  hanging-lamps 
in   the    halls,   and    he   knew   the   house    quite   well. 

At  the  top  of  the  stairs  he  encountered  Bernard, 
who  slept  outside  of  the  door  of  his  mistress's  apart- 
ments, and  who,  aroused  by  the  noise  and  seeing 
five  armed  men  coming  up  the  stairs,  had  sprung 
to  his  feet  and  seized  his  sword,  prepared  to  do  his 
best  for  the  defense  of  the  Countess  and  her  boys. 
But  when  Count  Hugo  raised  his  visor  and  spoke 
to  him,  the  brave  but  frightened  squire  immediately 
recognized   him    as   a   friend. 


176  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

"  Stay  here !"  cried  the  Count,  "  with  these  foul 
men.  Guard  the  stair-way.  Let  no  one  go  up  or 
down !"  And,  with  these  words,  he  dashed  alone 
down  into  the  great  hall-way,  where  the  sounds  of 
fighting  and  of  calls  to  arms  were  heard,  and  threw 
himself  into  the  combat  that  was  going  on  between 
his  men  and  a  dozen  or  so  of  the  robbers  who  had 
rushed  to  the  door-way  when  they  heard  the  noise 
of  the   ax. 

But  there  was  not  much  fighting  inside  the  chateau. 
Most  of  the  cotereaux  lodged  in  the  lower  part  of 
the  house  approached  from  the  outside  by  various 
doors,  or  in  the  outhouses  and  stables,  and  the  court- 
yard was  now  filled  with  these,  hastily  armed  to  re- 
pel   the   intruders. 

The  robbers  in  the  hallway  were  soon  forced  into 
this  court-yard,  and  into  the  midst  of  the  coteremix 
Count  Hugo,  with  the  whole  body  of  his  followers, 
now  boldly  plunged.  Such  attacks  as  these,  made  by 
one  or  two  knights  with  a  few  attendants  against  a 
much  greater  force,  were  very  popular  in  those  days 
of  chivalry.  For,  whether  the  rash  onslaught  were 
successful  or  not,  the  glory  was  the  same.  And  if 
the  safety  or  honor  of  a  lady  happened  to  be  con- 
cerned, the  unequal  combat  was  the  more  attractive 
to  the  knights.  For  a  lady  in  those  days  was  often 
the   cause  of  a   knight's   fiercest   battles   and   the  sub- 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  1 77 

ject  of  nearly  all  his  songs.  These  combats,  however, 
were  not  always  quite  so  unequal  as  they  seemed, 
for  a  knight  clad  from  head  to  foot  in  armor  was 
more  than  equal  to  three  or  four  soldiers  not  so 
well    guarded   by   steel   plates   and    rings. 

The  Count's  men,  as  has  been  said  before,  each 
wore  a  complete  suit  of  armor,  while  the  cotereaux, 
although  much  better  protected  in  this  way  than  most 
men  of  their  class,  were  none  of  them  completely 
dressed  in  mail.  This,  with  the  darkness  of  the  night 
and  the  suddenness  of  the  combat,  gave  the  attack- 
ing  party   great   advantage. 

As  they  had  been  instructed,  the  Count's  men 
scattered  themselves  among  their  opponents,  shouting 
the  battle-cry  of  De  Lannes,  and  striking  furiously 
right  and  left.  This  gave  the  cotereaux  the  idea  that 
their  enemies  were  in  much  greater  number  than  they 
really  were, — and  half  a  dozen  of  these  mailed  war- 
riors sometimes  banding  together  and  rushing  through 
che  throng  gave  the  idea  of  re-enforcements, — while 
the  horses  outside,  hearing  the  noises  of  clattering 
steel  and  the  cries  of  the  combatants,  neighed  and 
snorted,  and  their  attendants  shouted,  making  the 
robbers  suppose  there  were  other  forces  beyond  the 
walls. 

The  Countess  and  her  sons  were,  of  course,  quickly 

aroused  by  the  din  and  turmoil   below,  and   Raymond 

--  8 


178  THE  STORY  OF  VITEAU. 

and  Louis  rushed  to  the  door,  where  they  were  met 
by  Bernard,  who  told  them  all  he  knew,  and  that  was 
that  Count  Hugo  de  Lannes  had  come  to  the  chateau 
with  a   lot  of  soldiers  and  was  fighting  the  cotereaux. 

The  Countess  knew  not  what  to  think  of  this  most 
unexpected  occurrence,  and  hastily  dressed  herself  to 
be  ready  for  whatever  might  happen,  while  the  two 
boys,  throwing  on  their  clothes  and  seizing  their 
swords,  endeavored  to  rush  down-stairs  and  join  in 
the  conflict.  But  this  Bernard  and  the  men  on  the 
stair-way  prevented,  and  the  boys  were  obliged  to  be 
contented  with  listening  to  the  sounds  of  battle  and 
with  seeing  what  little  they  could  discern  from  the 
upper   windows. 

Meanwhile,  the  struggle  raged  fiercely  below,  the 
crowd  of  combatants  surging  from  one  side  to  the 
other  of  the  court.  It  was  not  long,  however,  before 
the  cotereaux  began  to  be  demoralized  by  the  fierce 
and  wild  attacks  of  their  mailed  antagonists.  Michol 
had  been  killed,  and  there  was  no  one  to  command 
and  rally  them.  Some  of  them,  being  hard  pressed 
and  finding  the  great  gate  open,  rushed  wildly  through 
and  were  lost  in  the  outer  darkness ;  and  before  long 
the  main  body  of  the  cotereaux,  finding  that  many  of 
their  companions  were  retreating  through  the  gate, 
were  seized  with  a  panic  and  a  desire  to  fly  while 
they   had   the   opportunity. 


THE  ROBBERS  IN  THE  HALLWAY  WERE  SOON  FORCED  INTO  THE  COURTYARD 


THE  STORY  OF    VITEAU.  1 79 

A  great  rush  was  therefore  soon  made  for  the  gate, 
out  of  which  the  cotereaux  pushed  and  crowded — 
even  carrying  with  them  in  their  rush  some  of  the 
Count's   men   who   were   fighting   in   their   midst. 

This  flight  was  precisely  what  Count  Hugo  had 
wished  to  bring  about.  It  would  have  been  impos- 
sible for  him  to  conquer  and  subdue  so  many  men 
with  his  small  number  of  followers.  But  he  had 
purposely  left  the  great  gate  open,  and  hoped  by 
this  sudden  and  determined  onslaught  in  the  dark 
to  throw  the  cotereaux  into  disorder,  and  thus  be 
able   to    drive    them    from    the    chateau. 

Accordingly,  he  massed  his  men  as  quickly  as 
he  could,  and,  making  a  circuit  of  the  court,  drove 
before  him  every  straggling  coterel,  and  then,  fol- 
lowing the  retreating  robbers  through  the  gates, 
pursued  their  straggling  forces  through  bushes  and 
fields  as  far  as  they  could  be  seen.  Then  calling 
Ks  men  together,  and  ordering  the  horses  to  be 
brought  into  the  court-yard,  Count  Hugo  hastened 
back  to  the  chateau,  and  the  great  gate  was  shut 
and  bolted  behind  them.  With  torch  and  lantern 
every  part  of  the  chateau  was  now  searched,  and 
none  of  the  cotereaux,  excepting  the  killed  and 
wounded,  having  been  found  therein,  the  Count  pro- 
nounced his  victory  complete,  and  proceeded  up  the 
stairs    to   the   apartments    of  the    Countess. 


180  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

Day  had  now  dawned,  and  the  victorious  Count 
Hugo  was  received  by  the  boys  and  their  mother 
with  the  greatest  thankfulness  and  delight.  Bernard 
had  already  told  them  of  the  rout  of  the  cotereanx, 
but  they  could  not  understand  why  the  attack  had 
been  made,  when  they  had  expected  a  peaceful 
settlement  of  the  affair  by  the  payment  of  the 
ransoms. 

But  when  the  Count  explained  the  matter  to  them, 
and  told  the  Countess  what  an  enormous  sum  the 
robber-captain  had  demanded  for  their  release,  and 
told  Louis  that  the  surrender  and  probable  execu- 
tion of  Jasto  was  included  in  the  terms,  they  did 
not  wonder  when  he  went  on  to  say  that  his  mincf 
could  not  endure  the  idea  of  submitting  to  such 
outrageous  and  unjustifiable  demands  from  a  common 
thief  of  the  roads,  and  that  he  had  therefore  re- 
solved to  strike  a  bold  stroke  to  give  them  their 
liberty  without  payment  or  cowardly  submission.  It 
is  true  that  if  this  attack  had  failed  the  safety  of  the 
Countess  and  her  boys  would  have  been  endangered ; 
but  as  it  did  not  fail,  nothing  was  said  upon  this 
point. 

But  the  Count  gave  them  little  time  for  thanks 
or  wonderment.  As  soon  as  the  necessary  prepa- 
rations could  be  made  and  the  signs  of  conflict 
removed   from   the   court-yard,   he   sent    the  Countess 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  l8l 

and  her  party  rejoicing  on  their  way  to  the  castle 
of  Barran.  Although  the  cotereaux  had  not  actually 
pillaged  the  chateau,  it  was  impossible  for  such  rude 
and  disorderly  men  to  live  there  for  any  length  of 
time  without  causing  a  good  deal  of  injury  to  the 
house  and  surroundings,  making  Viteau  an  unfit  place 
for    a    lady    to    reside    in. 

Accordingly,  with  a  few  of  the  Count's  men-at- 
arms  as  an  escort, — for  no  danger  was  now  appre- 
hended on  the  road, — the  Countess  went  to  the 
castle,  not,  as  before,  flying  wildly  from  her  pur^ 
suers,  but  journeying  pleasantly  along  in  company 
with  her  sons  and  attendants.  Bernard,  who  now 
no  longer  feared  to  leave  his  mistress,  remained 
behind  to  attend  to  the  renovation  and  repairs  of 
the  chateau,  and  to  make  it  fit  for  the  return  of 
its  mistress.  None  of  Count  Hugo's  men  had  been 
killed  and  but  few  injured  in  the  fight,  for  they 
had  protected  themselves  in  the  darkness  from  attack 
from  each  other  by  continually  shouting  the  battle- 
cry  of  De  Lannes,  and  the  cotereaux  had  not  been 
able  to  make  much  impression  upon  their  heavy 
armor. 

The  Count  now  determined,  with  the  main  body 
of  his  soldiers,  to  follow  up  the  attack  upon  the 
cotereaux — to  penetrate,  if  possible,  to  their  camp, 
and    to    destroy   it   entirely,  and    to    drive    the    rem- 


182  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

nant  of  this  band  of  thieves   from   the   forests   about 
Viteau. 

Therefore  he  also  remained  at  the  chateau,  which 
he  intended  making  his  basis  of  operations  in  the 
projected  campaign  of  extermination  against  the  re- 
maining   cotereaux. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

BARRAN  was  much  delayed  in  his  endeavors  to 
obtain  the  money  necessary  for  the  ransoms, 
and  he  found  a  great  deal  of  difficulty  in  collecting 
it  at  all  at  such  short  notice.  And  wearied  with 
his  unpleasant  and  annoying  task,  and  with  his  mind 
full  of  doubts  and  anxieties  regarding  the  obstacles 
and  complications  that  might  yet  arise  from  the 
probable  refusal  of  Sir  Charles  to  surrender  Jasto, 
he  rode  into  his  castle  the  day  after  the  arrival  of 
the    Countess. 

His  astonishment  and  delight  upon  finding  the 
Countess  and  her  family  safe  within  his  walls,  and 
on  hearing  that  Viteau  was  free  from  every  robber 
and  in  the  possession  of  its  rightful  owner,  and 
that  for  all  this  no  ransom  or  price  of  any  kind 
was   to   be   paid,    can    well    be   imagined.     And  when 

183 


184  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

he  and  the  Countess  talked  the  matter  over,  it 
became  evident  to  the  lady  that  to  repay  the  Count 
the  sums  he  intended  to  advance — which  payment 
she  most  certainly  would  have  made — would  have 
impoverished    her   for    years. 

All  was  now  happiness  and  satisfaction  at  the  castle, 
but  no  one  was  happier  or  better  satisfied  than 
the  ex-robber,  Jasto.  Now  that  his  enemy,  Michol, 
was  dead,  he  felt  that  his  own  life  was  safe;  for 
it  would  be  no  longer  necessary  to  sacrifice 
him  for  the  good  of  others.  He  sat  down  in  a 
corner  of  the  court-yard,  and  thought  the  matter 
over. 

"As  to  that  ransom,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  which 
was  due  me  for  returning  the  boy  Louis  to  his  sorrow- 
ing mother,  I  must  make  some  proper  settlement  about 
it.  Half  of  it  I  remitted  when  the  boy  saved  me 
from  the  hands  of  the  bloody-minded  brabancois,  and 
one-half  of  what  was  left  I  took  off  when  these  good 
people  gave  back  to  me  again  my  brave  and  noble 
master,  Sir  Charles.  And  now  that  that  great  knight, 
Sir  Hugo  de  Lannes,  has  killed  Michol  and  saved  my 
life,  I  do  remit  what  is  left,  which  is  only  a  quarter  of 
the  whole  sum — after  all,  hardly  equal  to  the  benefit 
received;  for  when  a  man's  life  is  in  danger  as  much 
from  his  friends  as  his  enemies,  it  is  a  very  great  bene- 
fit, indeed,  to  have  it  saved.     But,  as  I  have  no  money 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  1 85 

with  which  to  make  up  the  balance,  I  will  e'en  call 
the  account  settled,  and  so  it  is." 

As  Jasto  took  so  much  credit  to  himself  for  this 
generous  determination,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  he 
should  keep  the  matter  secret,  and  he  therefore  com- 
municated it  to  Louis  the  first  time  he  saw  the  boy, 
giving  him  in  careful  detail  his  reasons  for  what  he 
had  intended  to  do,  and  what  he  had  done. 

All  this  Louis  very  soon  told  to  his  mother;  and 
the  Countess,  remembering  that  she  had  promised 
Jasto  a  reward,  and  feeling  a  little  ashamed  that  it  had 
passed  out  of  her  mind,  took  the  hint  which  Jasto 
had  undoubtedly  intended  to  throw  out,  and  sent  him 
a  sum  of  money  which,  if  used  with  ordinary  economy, 
would  make  it  unnecessary  for  him  ever  again  to  wear 
a  suit  of  clothes  resembling  a  map  of  a  country  with 
the  counties  and  departments  marked  out  with  border- 
lines of  red  silk. 

A  week  afterward,  when  Jasto  left  the  castle  with 
Sir  Charles,  his  education  had  progressed  sufficiently 
to  enable  him,  with  the  assistance  of  his  alphabet  and 
his  little  manuscript  book,  to  write  a  short  and  simple 
message  so  that  it  could  be  read.  But  he  intended  to 
persevere  in  his  studies  until  he  had  become  as  good 
a  scribe  as  his  master  formerly  supposed  him  to  be. 

By   the   aid   of   some   deserters   from   the    band    of 

cotereaux,  who   came   over  to    him  when   they   found 

8* 


186  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

out  his  object,  Count  Hugo  soon  discovered  the  en- 
campment of  the  robbers,  which  he  utterly  destroyed, 
and  then,  following  them  to  their  several  retreats,  suc- 
ceeded in  breaking  up  their  organization  and  in  driving 
them  from  that  part  of  the  country. 

He  then  returned  to  the  castle  of  Barran,  where  he 
was  most  warmly  welcomed  by  everybody,  and  where 
his  little  daughter  Agnes  was  prouder  of  her  brave 
father  than  she  had  ever  been  before. 

In  a  few  weeks,  the  Count  de  Lannes  found  himself 
obliged  to  return  to  his  own  castle,  which  lay  several 
days'  journey  to  the  west ;  and  he  and  Agnes  took 
a  regretful  leave  of  all  their  dear  friends,  the  little 
girl  shedding  tears  of  heartfelt  sorrow  as  she  shook 
her  handkerchief  for  the  last  time  to  the  boys  and 
their  mother,  who  stood  watching  her  departure  from 
the  battlements. 

"  I  wonder,"  said  Louis,  "  if  we  shall  ever  see  them 
again." 

Nothing  was  said  for  a  moment,  and  then  his 
mother  remarked:  "I  think  —  that  is,  I  have  reason 
to  believe — that  we  shall  soon  see  the  Count  and  his 
daughter  again." 

"Why  do  you  think  so,  mother?"  asked  Raymond. 

The  Countess  did  not  answer  him  immediately,  and 
just  then  they  were  joined  by  the  Count  de  Barran, 
and  no  more  was  said  on  the  subject. 


THE  STORY  OF   VI TEA U.  1 8; 

The  Countess  did  not  remain  much  longer  at  the 
castle.  As  soon  as  the  squire  Bernard  had  restored 
her  chateau  to  its  former  orderly  condition,  she  bade 
good-bye  to  her  kind  entertainer  and  friend,  and  de- 
parted with  her  boys  for  her  own  home. 

Nothing  had  been  heard  of  the  priests  who  were 
to  be  sent  from  Paris,  but  there  might  be  many  good 
reasons  for  their  delay;  and  arrangements  were  made 
for  a  courier  to  be  sent  to  Viteau  as  soon  as  they 
should  arrive  at  the  castle.  The  Countess  would 
have  been  happy  to  have  had  her  suspense  in  regard 
to  this  unfortunate  affair  set  permanently  at  rest,  but 
she  knew  the  Inquisitorial  party  had  gone  back  to 
Toulouse  as  soon  as  their  leader  was  able  to  accom- 
plish the  journey;  and  having  been  assured  of  the 
protection  of  her  King,  she  felt  safe  from  unjust 
prosecution. 

On  the  morning  after  their  arrival  at  Viteau,  Louis, 
who  was  gladly  wandering  all  about  the  house  and 
grounds,  went  into  a  little  room  on  the  lower  floor 
which  was  opposite  the  sleeping  apartment  of  the 
squire  Bernard.  Here,  by  the  light  of  a  small  window 
near  the  ceiling,  he  saw,  upon  a  perch  in  one  corner 
of  the  room,  a  falcon,  secured  by  a  string  which  was 
tied  to  its  leg.  Louis  threw  the  door  wide  open  in 
order  to  get  a  better  light,  and  narrowly  examined 
the  bird. 


1 88  THE  STORY   OF   VITEAU. 

"  Why,  Bernard ! "  he  cried  to  the  squire,  who  just 
then  entered  the  room,  "  this  looks  exactly  like  the 
falcon  I  took  from  this  very  perch  the  morning  of 
the  day  I  first  went  to  De  Barran's  castle." 

*  Of  course  it  looks  like  it,"  said  the  squire,  "  for 
it  is  the  same  falcon." 

"  The  same  falcon ! "  exclaimed  Louis.  "And  on 
the  same  perch !     Why,  that  is  a  miracle  !  " 

"  It  is  no  miracle  at  all,"  answered  Bernard ;  "  it  is 
a  very  simple  thing  when  you  come  to  know  all  about 
it.  After  the  rascally  cotereatix  had  been  driven  out 
of  this  place,  I  found  the  falcon  fastened  to  this  perch, 
and,  by  marks  I  had  filed  upon  his  beak,  I  knew  him 
for  the  same  bird  I  had  trained  for  your  brother  Ray- 
mond. Of  course,  I  was  astonished;  but,  on  thinking 
the  matter  over,  I  supposed  that  this  must  be  the  bird 
which  the  robbers  had  stolen  from  you,  and  that, 
bringing  it  with  them  when  they  came  here  to  live, — 
the  rascally  scoundrels! — they  naturally  put  it  in  this 
room,  which  they  could  see  had  been  planned  and 
fitted  for  the  keeping  of  falcons.  Looking  into  the 
matter  still  further,  I  asked  Orion,  the  chief  falconer 
of  Count  Hugo,  who  was  one  of  the  men  he  had 
brought  here  with  him,  what  kind  of  bird  it  was  he 
had  given  to  you  when  the  Count  desired  that  you 
should  have  one.  Orion  then  told  me  it  was  a  falcon 
which  had  come  to  him  only  the  day  before.     He  had 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  189 

been  out  hawking  with  his  master,  and  was  bringing 
down  to  him  by  means  of  a  lure  a  falcon  that  had 
made  an  unsuccessful  flight,  when  a  strange  hawk 
made  its  appearance  and  also  answered  his  call,  and 
came  down  to  the  lure.  Knowing  it  to  be  a  falcon 
which  had  been  lost  by  some  hunter,  and  to  be  a 
well-trained  bird,  he  seized  and  hooded  it  and  took  it 
home  with  him.  The  next  day,  when  he  was  ordered 
to  give  a  bird  to  a  boy,  he  much  preferred  to  part 
with  this  one,  which  he  had  just  found,  to  giving 
away  any  of  the  falcons  he  had  reared  and  trained 
himself.     And  this  is  the  whole  of  the  matter." 

"  You  may  think  it  a  very  simple  story,"  said 
Louis,  "but  I  think  it  is  wonderful.  I  am  ever  so 
glad  to  have  the  falcon  back  again ;  and  just  think, 
Bernard,  if  it  had  not  been  for  my  losing  that  bird, 
ever  so  many  troubles  would  not  have  happened,  and 
those  wicked  thieves  would  never  have  come  to  this 
chateau ! " 

The  squire  agreed  that  this  was  true,  but  he 
thought  more  than  he  said.  He  thought  that  if 
Louis's  kind  heart  had  not  been  anxious  to  repair  the 
injury  done  his  brother,  he  would  not  have  been 
captured  by  the  cotereaux ;  and  that,  if  he  had  not 
been  captured  by  the  cotereaux,  no  ransom  would 
have  been  demanded  for  him ;  and  if  no  ransom  had 
been  demanded,  the  robbers  never  would  have  seized 


190  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAb. 

upon  Viteau  to  enforce  their  claims;  and  if  they  had 
not  been  at  Viteau,  there  would  have  been  no  place 
of  refuge  for  the  Countess  when  flying  from  the 
Inquisitors;  and  that,  instead  of  the  happiness  which 
was  now  so  general  at  the  chateau,  all  might  have 
been  misery.  But  he  said  nothing  of  this  to 
Louis,  for  he  thought  it  not  right  that  boys  should 
take  to  themselves  too  much  credit  for  what  they 
might  do. 

But  although  contentment  seemed  to  reign  at 
Viteau,  this  was  not  really  the  case.  True,  the  cha- 
teau had  been  completely  renovated,  and  all  traces 
of  its  occupation  by  the  cotereaux  had  been  removed; 
but  the  Countess  could  not  forget  that  it  had  been 
the  abode  of  thieves,  and  that  bloody  and  violent 
deeds  had  so  lately  taken  place  before  its  gates  and 
within  its  very  court-yard.  Then,  too,  she  felt  that 
she  must  soon  be  separated  from  her  boys.  Raymond 
must  go  to  school  at  Paris,  and  Louis  must  return 
to  his  duties  as  the  page  of  the  Count  de  Barran. 
And  this  separation  seemed  a  very  different  thing  to 
her  now  from  what  it  did  before  these  troubles  came 
upon  her. 

Louis  was  particularly  discontented.  "  I  do  not 
want  to  go  back  to  Barran,"  he  said  to  his  brother. 
"  I  do  not  believe  he  is  a  true  knight." 

"  What ! "     cried     Raymond,     in     surprise.       "  You 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  191 

should  not  speak  thus,  Louis.  No  man  has  ever  said 
such  a  thing  of  the  Count  de  Barran." 

"  I  suppose  not,"  said  Louis,  "  but  I  am  a  boy,  and 
I  can  say  it.  He  stood  still  and  did  nothing  when 
our  mother  had  to  fly  for  her  life  from  his  castle; 
and  he  wanted  to  buy  us  away  from  the  thieves, 
instead  of  coming  and  taking  us  boldly,  as  a  true 
knight  should.  Count  Hugo  is  a  different  kind  of  a 
knight." 

"  But  you  should  not  forget,"  said  Raymond,  "  how 
kind  and  generous  the  Count  de  Barran  has  always 
been  to  us.  He  worked  in  his  own  way  for  our 
mother's  good." 

"  Oh,  yes,"  said  Louis,  "  I  shall  not  forget  that ;  but 
I  do  not  want  to  go  back  to  him." 

Matters  were  in  this  condition  when,  one  beautiful 
day  in  autumn,  Count  Hugo  came  again  to  Viteau. 
This  time  he  did  not  clamber  over  the  wall,  but  rode 
in  bravely  at  the  front  gate.  He  was  not  followed  by 
a  body  of  steel-clad  soldiers,  but  he  brought  his 
daughter  Agnes,  with  her  attendants,  and  a  company 
of  followers  in  gay  and  bright  array.  He  did  not 
come  to  conquer,  but  he  came  because  he  had  been 
conquered.  He  came  to  ask  the  lovely  Countess  of 
Viteau  to  be  his  wife. 

A  few  weeks  after  this,  when  the  days  were  becom- 
ing clear  and   frosty,  there  was  a  wedding  at  Viteau. 


192  THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU. 

There  were  many  guests;  there  was  feasting,  and 
music,  and  great  joy.  Little  Agnes  had  now  a  mother, 
and  Raymond  and  Louis  a  brave  and  noble  father. 

And  when  the  wedding  was  over,  the  Countess 
rode  away  with  her  husband  to  his  castle  of  De 
Lannes,  and  her  two  boys  went  with  her — Raymond, 
because  it  was  on  his  road  to  Paris,  and  Louis, 
because  he  was  to  be  taught  to  be  a  knight  by  Count 
Hugo,  who  had  admired  and  loved  the  boy  almost 
from  the  first  time  he  had  seen  him. 

The  priests  from  Paris  never  came  to  catechise 
the  Countess.  The  truth  was,  that  the  young  King 
was  not  so  much  of  a  king  as  he  had  supposed 
himself  to  be;  for  his  mother,  Queen  Blanche,  was 
not  willing  that  the  crown  should  interfere  in  any 
way  with  the  operations  of  the  Inquisition,  and  had 
not  consented  that  the  priests  should  be  sent  to  the 
castle  of  Barran.  But  as  it  became  known  that  the 
King  had  taken  an  interest  in  the  matter,  and  as  it 
was  probably  considered  unwise  to  bring  a  religious 
prosecution  against  the  wife  of  the  Count  de  Lannes, — 
who  was  not  only  a  powerful  nobleman,  but  a  warm 
supporter  of  both  Church  and  state,  and  who  was 
also  known  to  have  punished  and  exterminated  the 
band  of  cotereaux  who  had  attacked  the  Inquisitorial 
party, — the  matter  was  suffered  to  drop,  and  nothing 
more  was  ever  heard  of  it. 


THE  STORY  OF   VITEAU.  193 

Viteau  was  left  in  charge  of  Bernard,  who  would 
faithfully  administer  its  affairs  until  Raymond  should 
be  of  age  to  come  and  take  possession  of  the 
establishment  and  the   estates. 

And  now,  as  our  friends  have  left  the  chateau,  with 
whose  varying  fortunes  we  have,  for  a  time,  been 
interested,  we  will  leave  it  also;  and  the  story  of 
Viteau   is  told. 


THE  END, 


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